Admit One by Emma

Hello everyone!

I can't believe how fast March is flying by...this year is going so quickly and it's already that time of the month for me to share my latest creation with you all...I hope you like it!

I began by making a box from plain white cardboard, which I covered in Antique Linen and Vintage Photo Distress Stains. Next, I used the Gadget Gears and Weathered Clock Alterations Dies and die cut pieces of chipboard which I then covered in Versamark. I embossed the clock with a gold embossing powder and the gears with, Peeled Paint, Distress Embossing Powder, mixed with a little of the gold powder. To tone down the brightness, I rubbed a black Stazon ink pad over the top of the embossed chipboard pieces.

Next, I inked up the Europe Stamp with Vintage Photo DI and stamped onto a piece of card, which I'd already blended with Antique Linen and Brushed Corduroy DI. I then stamped the "Voyage" wording from the Travelling Words stamp plate and the hand and the "Admit One" ticket from the Tim Holtz Steampunk stamp set onto some more of the cardstock and cut them out.

I made a rosette from some paper in my stash, using the Decorative Strip Rosette and then, together with my embossed die cut clock and one of the gadget gears, I layered each piece to build up my clockface, on the front of the box. I attached the hands of the clock, using a brad from my stash and adhered them in the centre, making sure that they can move around freely.

I arranged the pieces that I had stamped earlier and stuck them onto the box, together with the embossed gadget gears.

Finally, I die cut the "Journey" wording using a Tim Holtz Alterations die, covered them with Glossy Accents and then added them to the front of my box.

So, that's about it from me and thanks for stopping by to take a look!

Don't forget that we have still have our TRAVEL Challenge running throughout March on the blog and we would love you to join in and to see all your fabulous creations.

See you again soon and I hope you have a lovely day, full of creativity.

Emma x

Rustic Bloom by Alison

Hello Stampers! I have a Spring-inspired card to share with you today. Although, since I made it, the weather has turned wintery again! Lol!

I used brush pens to colour the floral image from Botanical Plate 2, then stamped it onto a book page. I tore around the image roughly, then inked the edge with an orange pen.

I inked the leaves with a green pen, then stamped them on the edge of a square kraft card. I added the floral image, stamped 'bloom', wrapped some string around the card, & finally attached a bee charm.

I hope you like my little rustic card, thanks for looking!

Alison xox

IT'S NOT WHAT YOU WEAR journal page by Kat

Hi all,
I thought I would share another page with you
from my A5 journal,
so straight into it,
here it is.

Here's the list of things I used :-

Distress Inks Brushed Corduroy, Iced Spruce & Victorian Velvet,
Stamps, Large Sequin Waste Closed, Speckle, Calligraphic Mat 11, Backgrounds
Swirls, Splats and Dots A5
archival ink Jet Black
further round the edge (Dylusions stamp set)
Alphabet stamps, collage sheets & googled images,
a white posta paint pen.

to start I blended the Distress inks over the page,
then stamped with the same colours,
I then stamped the border stamp top & bottom of the page
with jet black archival ink, then coloured the dots with a paint pen,
next I put together the art doll & doggies with various
collage sheets & images off the net, then glued them to the page,
I stamped the words out onto scrap paper,
cut them out & glued them to the page.
& lastly I drew the leads to the dogs.

That's it,

Hope you like it!

See you next time,

Kat x.

Butterfly Art by Sioux Jenneys

Heavens above it's March already!

So here I am with a little inky card to share:)

1. I stamped the butterfly from Insects and Butterflies 1 in Distress Ink aged mahogany onto a piece of square card and coloured it with a touch of Distress Ink vintage photo and masked it.

2. Stamped the Europe Map background in Versamark and heat embossed with copper powder.

3. Lining up a straight edge of paper against the map edge I coloured the map with Distress Inks in faded jeans and shabby shutters using an ink blending tool.

4. Remove the straight edge and leaving the butterfly mask in place stamp the word "Art" from Creative Art Thoughts in Versafine black.

5. Age the edges all around using an ink blending tool and Distress Ink vintage photo before stamping a couple of flourishes from Swirls, Splats and Dots A5 size in the same ink in the top corner. 

6. Cut a piece of white card 4mm larger than your stamped piece as a mat and another one 4mm larger again and colour this one with the ink blending tool again using Distress Ink black soot.



I have not added a sentiment as yet but left room under the image stack...

...this is going in my stash for when just the right occasion comes along :) 

See you again soon!

xoxo Sioux

Winner of the February Challenge

Hi, it's the Boss back again this month with the winner of last month's Hearts challenge. Wow!we had some absolutely gorgeous entries, and I loved them all. Thank you for joining in.
Of course, we have to have a winner, and Mr Random.org chose no 70 who is

Stacy H-W 

with this wonderful creation.

Stacy, please email me, so we can arrange to get your prize to you :)
Don't forget to join in this month's challenge which is TRAVEL
We always look forward  to seeing your art.
Have a very creative day
Jennie

Wax doesn't have to hurt by Sue West

Hi everyone.  I'm really excited to be guest designer this month at the Artistic Stamper Creative Team, and to be able to share some of the fun I've had using just a few of the great stamps that Jennie produces. For my first piece I have used the Airmail Bird Collage Elements stamps. I just love that raven. 
Guess what. I made a collage.
I love any excuse to get painty, inky, gluey and dig out my meltpot and beeswax.

Here's the supply list for my collage.
Airmail Bird Collage Elements stamps
6 x 6 deep edged canvas
Ranger Studio Multi-Medium (matte)
Vintage maps and sheet music and postage stamp
White and manilla cardstock
Ranger Archival Ink  - Jet Black, Cobalt, Vermillion
Ranger Distress Ink - Vintage Photo
Acrylic paint ( I used Golden Fluid Acrylics but Adirondack Paint Dabbers would work really well)
MeltPot
Clear UTEE
Natural Beeswax
Designer Metal (gold leaf)
Ranger Distress Embossing Powder - Fired Brick
Vintage pen nib
Crown

To get started collage the vintage papers onto your canvas using multi medium and when dry use your paints sparingly to highlight interesting bits of the background and the if it all seems a bit bright scrape some creamy coloured paint over the entire surface with an old credit card. This only needs a tiny amount of paint. ( Claudine Hellmuth Traditional Tan acrylic would be perfect for this. I have also painted the edges of the canvas dark brown. It's best to do this now as if you get wax runs over the edges the paint never really adheres properly. I have pulled the brown paint just over on to the front of the canvas as I like the vintage look this gives.
Using Archival Ink for all your stamping (so it doesn't run). Stamp the postmark onto tissue and the raven and the words onto thin white cardstock or paper.
I've used Vintage Photo Distress Ink to colour the edges of the bird words and also the air mail element.
Now it's time to get out your Meltpot. First I made the UTEE heart by dissolving Fired Brick embossing powder in some UTEE and the pouring into a tiny cookie cutter. I don't worry about little bubbles as I think it just makes it look more vintage.  Dab the pen nib with black acrylic paint to age it.

Next melt your beeswax and having decided where you want your various collage elements to go apply the wax with a natural bristle brush and use your heat gun to keep it liquid if you need to get rid of brush marks. ( Personally I quite like to leave little dribbles and runs of wax as it all adds to the texture, and I just love the smell of that hot beeswax). I decided not to completely cover the script with wax and left the edges curled up  and got a semi-translucent look where the wax was in contact with the paper, again just adding extra texture.
The pen nib, heart and crown (cut in half) all embed into the wax with no problems.

Finally (and completely optional) I applied a sparing coat of multi-medium one edge at a time  and dabbed on gold leaf, which only adheres in some places and looks really old, especially if you then seal it with some more multi -medium that you thin down slightly with  brown paint and some water to make a wash. This gives a lovely grungy look.

If you've never tried beeswax collage have a go. It's great fun. And when you've finished your art and the wax has really solidified just buff, buff, buff with a soft cloth and you will get the most amazing sheen on your work.

Thanks for looking and see you soon.
Sue x

March Challenge ~ TRAVEL

Hi everyone and welcome to a brand new challenge for March!

Thank you for all your fabulous entries to last month's challenge. The lucky winner will be announced in the next few days, so make sure you check back to see who it is.

This month we are welcoming the very talented Sue West as our Guest Designer and we are all really looking forward to seeing the wonderful artwork and creativity that she will be bringing to the team.

The new challenge for this month is all about TRAVEL and to join in with this challenge is simple; make a piece of artwork, include the theme and some rubberstamping, pop back here to link up using the Froggy at the bottom of this post, so that we can see what you've made and then, leave us a comment to let us know you have joined in. As ever there will be candy for one randomly picked entrant - £15 worth of The Artistic Stamper stamps of your choice plus the Kling On to mount them onto. And... if you use Artistic Stamper stamps on your entry, you will be entered twice into the draw! 

Before you start creating, just take a look at our Creative Team's stunning creations for this month's challenge.

SIOUX

Sioux used the cycling image from the "Open Road" plate, the graph paper background and the sentiment to make a CAS card.

ALISON

Alison stamped the Journey sentiment in a rainbow of Distress Ink colours, stamped the Mini from the Cars Plate in black, then coloured it with distress inks. She stamped the Europe Background onto Kraft Glassine paper, crumpled it, then rolled it up to make a map, adding string & a philosophy tag.

KAT

Kat has uses for her tag, distress stains Tattered Rose, Frayed Burlap & Tea Dye, Distress Inks Antique Linen & Vintage Photo, all the images are stamped with archival ink Coffee, & the stamps she has used are all Tim Holtz with the exception of the Small Cogs & Stipple background Kat has added a piece of torn map & a couple of memo pins & finished off with some string through the hole of her tag.

EMMA

For my challenge piece, I used a Manila tag and dragged Weathered Wood and Antique Linen Distress Stains over it and then heat dried it. Next, I inked up the Eiffel Tower, Tim Holtz stamp from my stash and stamping directly onto the tag. I made up two blooms from Grungepaper, blended with Tumbled Glass DI, using the Flower Power Stamp Plate and also stamped and coloured some leaves from the same stamp sheet. I added a quote from the Traveling Words Stamp sheet and attached it to my tag with a Idea-ology Hinge Clip. Finally I added some vintage ribbon, dyed with Weathered Wood Distress Stain.

We're really looking forward to seeing your interpretation of our theme and all your wonderful creations in the challenge this month and please, don't forget to add a comment when you post your entry.

That's about it from me for now...thank you for looking.

Hope you all have a happy and very creative month.

Emma x