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

2 little books!

Hi all, it's time for my second piece as February guest designer!

One of my very fav things to do is to make books so that is what I decided to do this time.

This is the two books together........these steampunk-esque labels make fun book cover images!

This book is stitched at the spine..................a real old watch is glued to the front of the book.
I used the lace background stamp to stamp the front cover (behind the main image) and the inside pages.

I used Tims COGS DIE to cut several cogs from card, these were then glued between the pages......make sure they don't overlap the bottom edge if you want the book to stand up.

The card used to make the books and to die cut the cogs was coloured using CRAFTY NOTIONS spray inks

This book was made in a different way.......I took an old book, removed the covers and then cut the pages down to give the house shape making sure the spine stayed intact.

Use coloured card to make book covers, glue them in place.

Add the image to the front cover.

Sue Roddis

a whole lotta love...out of the box!!

all encapsulated in a box! It's the boss here again, and this time I have created a box for Valentine's Day. I made this for a workshop yesterday, and now we have the workshop done and dusted ( photos are on my blog), I can show you some of the bits and pieces that went to make it up. I collected lots of hearts ( I always do this for all my mixed media workshops), and we used them in a variety of ways.



 I loved the idea that the idea-ology Configuration boxes can be made up anyway you like, and this one is completely out of the box! I used Ten Seconds studio metal run through Tim's Alteration Heart die, and then embossed with one of his folders, and then puffed up and filled with filler at the back ( just so it doesn't collapse!). Add grungepaper wings, letters from the Lost and Found paper stack, and lots of lace!



The heart here is a papier mache or polystyrene heart covered with toilet paper ( in hearts of course) and then waxed with Ranger Beeswax.

The utee heart was covered in Duo glue, and then gold Leaf from Crafty Notions applied to it (on the website next week!) I added it on top of a keyhole from Idea-ology, and hung the key below on the lace.

There are lots of elements, and I forgot to say the whole box was sprayed with Ranger Color Wash, and then stencilled using their Perfect Pearls mists giving a very light and subtle finish.
If you haven't made a Valentine's gift yet, then this may give you a few ideas!
Happy Valentine's Day

Jennie

Kiss, Kiss, Kiss by Sioux Jenneys

Hi...are you ready for Valentines day? Made that card for your special someone? No?

Well this card just might fit the bill ;)

1. Stamp "The Kiss" image onto card three times using three different colours of ink -  I used Archival black and Distress Ink vintage photo and brushed corderuy.

2. I find it quicker and easier to cut myself a window template out of card (I used a moo sized window 2.8cm x 7cm) and place over the images to get just the right position...it's just a matter of drawing a line round the inside edge and cutting out.

3. Cut three mats out of black card 3mm bigger than your images and use a gold pen to edge both the images and the black mats before sticking together. 

4. Stamp the "Owl Scroll" from Haunted Mansion plate onto the square kraft card base in Distress Ink aged mahogany and emboss with Distress Embossing Powder vintage photo for a bit of extra texture.

5. Stamp the quotation from The Kiss stamp onto another moo sized piece of card in Distress Ink aged mahogany and emboss with clear powder. 

6. Cut a decorative bottom edge with the plaque on the edge die and round off the top corners.

7. Attach the quotation over the scroll with sticky pads or silicone glue and space the three kiss images evenly leaving space to add some small red pearls as an accent.

There is still lots of time to enter the monthly love is in the air challenge:)

Why not try a repeat image of one of your favourites?

See you again soon!

xoxo Artyjen

"Our Little Ones" by Alison Hall

Hi Everyone! Here's a quick little card from me, using one of my favourite colour combinations and a sweet little vintage stamp set by The Artistic Stamper, called 'Our Little Ones'. You can buy it as a collage image, or as separate images. I used the separate images sheet.


First I took a square of white card, and inked one half with spiced marmalade distress ink, then the other half with broken china. Then I stamped the dots background and the dogtooth background with the same inks. I stamped flourishes in opposite corners, then edged the card with black ink, and matted it onto a square white card blank.

Next I stamped the words from 'Our Little Ones' on a small square of card, with the broken china ink, and stamped the little girl in Archival black over the top. I used a waterbrush & the distress ink to colour her dress. I edged the card with the blue ink, matted it onto black card, then adhered it to the centre of my background.

I stamped three butterflies (from Insects & Butterflies No 1) in black, overstamped them with a script stamp in the distress inks, cut them out, and adhered just the bodies to the card, lifting the wings slightly to add some dimension.

Thanks for looking!

Flower Power by Tina Barnett

Hello my crafting friends!

I thought I might jump back to colourful this time around, using the fabulous Mabel Lucie Attwell stamp called "For you".

The stamp is from The Artistic Stamper
I have used Aqua Markers which are a watercolour pens from the Promarker range. I think watercolours show off the Mabel Lucie Attwell stamps so well.
I wanted to show you how you can mix in your old or forgotten stash with your new stamps. I made the card for a friends 30th Birthday, so the stamp can be for all ages.
I have used my larger nesties to make the mount and edged the top layer, surrounding the image with watercolour to bring in the shades of the main image.

I used papers and flowers from my stash along with some ribbon and gems.

I hope you like the card. Let me see what you can make with your Mabel Stamps!

If you don't have any yet, you can find them Here

Bye for now!

Tina xxxx

My Valentine! by Nicky Cresswell

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Well hello there my fine stamping chums, nice of you to join me this fine day!

As you are all aware the big day of love is fast approaching, and if you haven't already made your cards here is a nice quickie to help you out.

All you need is a base card, i used a square kraft coloured one for this example but white or cream in any size would also work fine. 1 sheet of parchment or velum big enough to cover the front of the card.

A selection of stamps... I've used Stampers Anonymous 'Love Struck' and Artistic Stamper 'Roses are Red',

4 brads and a die cut heart... oh and several ink pads lol

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First cut the parchment to the exact size of the card, Stamp the cupid onto the parchment using stazon in the bottom left hand corner, while this is drying, cut a heart {i used my slice} but you can use anything for this, maybe the heart from Tims winged heart alterations die just so long as you have a printable surface for your valentine message.

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Stamp the 'to my valentine' with black archival onto your heart, and use vintage photo distress ink round the edges.

Place the parchment over the card and line up where you want the heart to be, then stick it in place.

Put this to one side for now.

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Next randomly stamp the strip hearts in red distress ink onto the base card paying attention to where the cupid will overlay, also stamp the word love several times in black, again paying attention not to stamp where it would be covered by the heart or cupid.

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 If you're a bit unsure at this stage and don't want to mess up your card, practice on a piece of scrap paper first to get your placement how you want it. You can overlay your parchment to check how it will look on the real card. 

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Then all thats left to do is attach the parchment to the base card with 4 brads, one in each corner.

And there you have it, a nice muted effect with all the stamping still visible. And the perfect card for your  

♥ valentine ♥

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Oh... Don't forget it's a 'Love' theme for our challenge this month so add your cards HERE and you could win the random prize candy! Woo Hoo!

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The Sunday Stamperama's

...well, I was trying to be clever there but not sure if it worked LOL Anyways, goodly morning to you all! Today is Stamperama at Stevenage and Jennie will be demo-ing UTEE with her marvellous Melt Pot and I will be demo-ing Beeswax with my magical Melt Pot. If you are going to be at Stevenage, please do pop by and see us on the Stand :O)




Today I am linking the Sunday Stamper in with my post here... I have made an ATC which is a giveaway both here and on my blog... the deets are HERE. All you have to do is simply leave me a comment on this post and I will enter your name into the draw. There is another way you can be entered too... if you hop over to my Sunday Stamper post and join in with the challenge, your name will be entered a further two times... so you will have three chances of winning not only my ATC but also some FAB candy kindly donated by Jennie - which is this FAB Time & Keys plate as well as the Kling On to mount the stamps onto.



Thanks for looking.. hope to see you today! TTFN

Hels x

The wheels on the bus....

go round and round...It kind of fits with one of the new stamps that will be available at Stamperama on Sunday and on the website on Monday! Here is a tag I made with the new stamp... lots of distress inks ( ooh cannot wait for the distress stains coming soon...:)) some torn music paper, available in our Vintage paper packs, and some idealogy!



I will be at Stamperama on Sunday in Stevenage, and if you are coming , please stop by, tap me on the shoulder (I have habit of not looking up often when demoing ) and say hi! I love putting faces to blog names. We have some new gorgeous moulds from Crafty Notions, and there are more than are on the website too!! I will be playing with UTEE and Hels will be working her magic with beeswax. Lots of offers, and the packing pixie is on Arkwright!
Hope to see you there!
Happy Creating
Jennie

The Old Days by Sioux Jenneys

Hi! All you fellow inkers ;) I thought I'd share a postcard (6x4 inch) today with you :)

1. Stamp the "For Men Only" image in Versafine and use Distress Inks brushed corduroy and bundled sage as a watercolour for the trousers and shirt and cut out around the outline of the man on the front edge.

2. Stipple Adirondack Dye Inks in wild plum and butterscotch on the base card.

3. Stamp the Stampers Anonymous clowns from the big top plate in Archival sepia and colour the middle clowns hat using Distress Ink aged mahogany as a watercolour and worn lipstick for the lips.

4. Stamp the top half of the W.J. Hawker stamp from ephemera 1 plate in Archival coffee at the side of the clowns to fill in the space at the edge and the bottom half of the stamp that says Bournemouth on the bottom edge.

(don't re-ink for a subtle second impression)

5. Stamp the T!m faux staples at the bottom in worn lipstick.

6. Mask the clowns and stamp the word Cirque in Distress Ink weathered wood.

7. Stamp the letter tiles from scrabble and tags plate onto some card printed with an image of cork and cut out.

I'm giving the cork image away as a free digital download ;) Just click here.

Just hit the blue Download button when you get there and save to a folder on your computer.

It is sized at approx. 9.5cm square...a small image especially for stamping the scrabble tiles on (or any other words for that matter). You can obviously enlarge this in your own software if you desire...but not too much or the cork starts to look like crazy paving slabs!!! LOL
Have fun :)

I know the clowns freak some of you out...but it's healthy to be freaked once in a while :)

See you again soon!

xoxo Artyjen

Challenge Winner for January!

Hi, it's the boss here again, this time with the WINNER of our January challenge "Things with Wings"
What a wonderful amount of entries this month! Thank you to everyone who joined in, it has been a pleasure seeing them all :) I have to admit not getting around to everyone's place this month as I have been very busy , but I promise to do better this month.
The winner of the £15 worth of The Artistic Stamper stamps is

FLISS!

Congratulations on winning and please email me to arrange to get your prize.
February's Challenge is All Things Love, so if you haven't entered , you have until midnight on 28th February to post .
Happy Creating!
Jennie

Moths to a flame

Hi all,
I'm SUE RODDIS AKA JABBERWOCKY and it's time for my stint as guest designer here on the CREATIVE TEAM blog.

My first piece is a double page journal spread made in my A5 Moleskine journal.

I used one of my very fav techniques to colour the pages......apply gesso and let dry. Rub over with Distress ink pads.....I used Rusty Hinge, Olive and Black Soot......spray with water to mingle the colours. Let dry or help long with a heat gun.

Stamp fragments of the lace background around the edges, add cogs stamped over the top.

Stamp the open lightbulb image over some old book pages, cut them out. Stamp the cogs lightbulb over plain paper and cut out. Arrange the bulbs acros the pages and draw in hanging wires.
Stamp the small butterfly over book pages and cut out, arrange them among the bulbs.

Add some extra colour to the plain lightbulbs and butterflies using Distress inks and a water brush.

Ok that's me for now.......I'll be back later in the month with another project.