A Murder of Crows by Sue Roddis

It's time for my final piece as FEBRUARY GUEST DESIGNER here on
THE CREATIVE TEAM BLOG. I have enjoyed working with the ARTISTIC STAMPER stamps this last month and shall continue to use them over the coming months.
This time I have made another journal page..........

I really like this crows head!!!
The background was first painted with a layer of gesso......this acts as a barrier between the page and whatever you use over it. Once dry I rubbed PINE NEEDLES, CHIPPED SAPPHIRE and BLACK SOOT DISTRESS INK pads directly onto the page. Next spray with water to mingle the colours.......without the gesso the inks would sink into the page and would not mingle very well......dry with a heat gun.

Next use STREAM ADIRONDACK PAINT DABBER through a piece of sequin waste and then black ink through the sequin waste to add more interest to the background. Randomly stamp the birds words image across the pages.

Stamp several crow heads onto white paper along with the birds words. Cut out the crow heads and arrange overlapping on the page, glue in place. Tear small strips and pieces from the words and glue these randomly around the page.

To finish the page I hand wrote A MURDER OF CROWS.

Stamps used are:

Free as a bird A6 set and Airmail Collage Elements

I enjoyed playing with these stamps so much I made a second project with them........you can see it on my blog......JABBERWOCKY!

Here's a sneak peek................

Sue Roddis

Flying on the wings of love! by Nicky Cresswell

Hello my blogland lovelies, 

Minxy in the house once more spreading yet more love

This time in the form of a card

I started by making a little motherboard out of tissue paper & old book pages coloured with fire brink distress ink stuck randomly onto a piece of cartridge paper with multi medium.

I then over stamped with the hearts background stamp in black archival and fire brick.

When dry a tore a piece from the motherboard the size i needed, and punched a checkerboard along one side, i also did the same to a piece of red card.

I diecut a heart in red which i coated with glossy accents,  and wings in gold mirror card using the TH die, I embossed the wings with Tims checkerboard folder and dirtied up using a black dabber.

I assembled and finished with the phrase punched out using my dymo label maker.

Don't forget you still have today and tomorrow to get in your 'Love' challenge entries.

Oh Right... i almost forgot.. 

the winner of the last piece i blogged HERE goes to..

Silvia(Barnie)

Congrats hun, please mail me {link on my blog}with your snail mail and i'll get that in the post for you during the week x 

Untill next time, Stay Inky xx

Hopeless Love by Alison Hall

Hello Stampers. Today I'm sharing an altered jigsaw piece with you. It was originally part of a Tweenies puzzle! I used the theme of Love to tie in with this month's Challenge. There's still a few days left if you want to join in!


I started by tearing off the puzzle image, then I painted it with Claudine Hellmuth dash of red studio paint. When this was dry, I painted a layer of pva glue over it. I left this to go tacky, then gently painted sky blue studio paint over the top, taking care not to mix it with the glue. I dried this with my heat gun, taking care not to bubble the paint. I love this background technique, and the way the base colour shows through the cracks. I edged the jigsaw piece with the red paint, then when it was dry, inked the piece with walnut stain distress ink. I set this with my heat gun, then stamped a few black flourishes.

Next, I took a black slide mount. I painted it with a few layers of the dash of red studio paint. When this was dry, I coated it with glossy accents. For some reason, the black of the slide mount has appeared again when the glossy accents dried, but I quite like this effect.


I stamped the mini Gibson Girl image on a piece of white card, & inked it with antique linen distress ink. I glued the image behind the slide mount, then punched a small hole at the bottom with a cropadile. I added a silver eyelet, and dangled a little friendly plastic heart charm from it. I added a torn, crumpled & inked piece of book page to the jigsaw piece, then glued the slide mount over the top.


I stamped 4 flowers on a book page, using the free Artistic Stamper flower stamp from the March Craft Stamper, cut them out, then crumpled them up. I layered the flowers together, added a red button, then glued them to the jigsaw piece. Finally I added a silver eyelet to the top, & threaded it with red ribbon.

Thanks for looking!
Alison xx

Artist in a bottle by Sioux Jenneys

Hello everyone! It's my pleasure to share an ATC with you today using one of The Artistic Stampers fab new bottle stamps :)

1. Cut a piece of white card smaller than ATC size and then it can be mounted later onto a black ATC size background.

2. Stamp the man from the Purely Random plate in Archival coffee and colour in using your favourite method.

...I used some watercolour pencils for a change but you could use good old Distress Inks too!

3. Mask the man and stamp the hounds tooth background in Distress Ink weathered wood.

4. Stamp the bottle in Distress Ink pine needles and then mask.

....I managed to do line it up by eye but by all means use a stamp positioner for this step.

5. Stamp the skeleton from Trick of Treat in Versafine onyx black

6. Stamp the word Artist from the Mini Classics plate firstly in Archival crimson and over stamp with Archival black for a shadowed offset look.

7. Remove the masks and using a brush and a little water bring colour from the hounds tooth pattern within the bottle around the outline of the man (this will lighten the background in that area and help to make it appear as if you really are looking through the glass bottle) and drag the green of the shading on the bottle in a similar way.

8. Tatter the edges and age with a combination of Distress Inks in walnut stain and aged mahogany.....then fix to the black background mat.

It wasn't till I really looked at the finished piece that I thought ooh er! A man trapped in a bottle? A skeleton embracing a bottle? Bit on the dark side but I liked making that one :)
See you again soon!

xoxo Artyjen

Coming soon...

Hi, it's that season again, when the days get lighter ( ok, all be it slowly) and the time for crafting gets longer . (I prefer to use natural daylight to work in...what's your preference?) and trade show time gets us all in a fever! Today I am off to the Stitches trade show at Birmingham, and hoping to see lots of new product to bring to you for the online shop! I have already ordered some stuff, Distress Stains, ( due in at the end of the month)



 Tim's new stamps, which are now in the air and will be with me next week!



 I am very lucky as I am about to spend some time with the guru of altered art today, doing a retailer workshop with Mr Holtz! I promise to show you what we make, and teach you some new techniques!!
If you would like to pre-order, some of the new products are up online here.
Have a very creative day, and I will be back with photos from the show!

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

Sing, Bird, Sing. by Alison Hall

Hi, Alison here again. This time I've been playing with mini canvases, Claudine Hellmuth Studio paint & wax.


I started off by adding some texture to the mini canvases, with some Viva Terra. When this was dry, I painted them with two shades of Claudine Hellmuth Studio paint, then blended them with some blank canvas Studio paint. Once they were dry, I stamped the script from Calligraphic Mat 12 with smidge of blue paint.

I melted some natural bees wax in my project pan, in the melt pot, then brushed some over the mini canvases. I stamped the little birdhouse from Birds of a Feather, and the bird & phrase from Birdsong Elements, onto music sheet, cut them out, then used the melted wax to adhere them to the canvases.


My base is a piece of corrugated card, that I painted with the blue Studio paint, then I adhered some torn music sheet with some melted wax.

Finally, I used strong glue to attach the canvases to the base, then attached a piece of Ranger lace chain with some metal brads, as a hanger.

I had a lot of fun making this piece, thanks for looking! xx