Doodle Birds by Georgina Sweetenham

Hi it's Georgina with my third and final post as this month's Guest Designer. My final project is a Stepper Card using a lovely selection of Neil Walker stamps.

I started by decorating a stepper card blank. I used a combination of mini Doodle Bubbles and mini Doodle Background stamps from the Mini Backgrounds stamp set. I used light and dark green, and dark blue ink pads. I overlapped the stamped images to form a patchwork effect.

The birds I used on the card are again Neil Walker stamps. I used Money Bird and Mechanical Bird individual stamps. From the Birdz Set I used Mystical Bird and Funky Bird. I stamped the birds with a Tuxedo Black Memento ink pad. I coloured the images with ProMarkers.

To give the birds dimension I stamped each birds three times. I cut out one complete image and then sections from the other two stamped images (as shown below).

I attached all the layers together with foam pads.

Once all the birds were finished I added Glossy Accents to the beaks and black pearls for eyes. I also stamped and layered-up just the flowers and leaves from the Mechanical Bird.

The sentiment is from the Journaling Words #1 stamp set. I stamped the words onto a strip of white card. I added dot-dash border around the strip with a black fineliner. I stamped the image again and cut out just the 'dreams' which I added to the card with foam pads. I added the birds and flowers to the card. To finish I added various colours of Stickles.

I have thoroughly enjoyed joining the Blog this month and sharing my cards with you all. Thank you so much to Jennie and Emma for asking me. And thank you all for the lovely comments you have been leaving on my blog posts. Happy Crafting!

For the love of sewing

Hello everyone, Astrid here with my second project for May. Those of you that follow my own blog know that one of the things I love doing is decorating gift bags. Well, I have a friend who loves sewing and I thought it would be nice to bring her a little gift wrapped in a bag with a sewing theme.

To decorate the bag I used a large Manila #10 tag I inked it with three colours of Distress Inks, Weathered Wood, Stormy Sky and Victorian Velvet. Next I cut a piece of Manila Paper with one of my dies, coloured it with the same three Distress Inks, stamped the Calligraphic Mat 12 stamp over it in Stormy Sky and added it to the top of the tag. Next I stamped the postcard stamp from the Katie Fox Carte Postale set on a bit of scrapbook paper with Cobalt Blue Archival Ink, distressed the edges and adhered it to the tag. Now for the sewing elements, they came from the Katie Fox A Stitch in Time set and the Tim Holtz Attic Treasures set. All elements were stamped in Cobalt Blue Archival Ink again on various bits of scrapbook paper, cut out and adhered to the tag as shown with some flowers, cheesecloth and a bit of lace..

 The little buttons at the top came from my stash, but you can find very similar once here

After doing the front, and adhering it to the bag, I decided to do another tag for the back, using the same stamp sets:

The little banner was created with the help of the great Scrabble and Tags set and everything was finished with another button, some ribbon and a little rose.

Here you can see both sides together:

I inked around the edges  of the bag with some Vintage Photo, punched holes at the top for some string and the gift bag was complete.

Hope you liked it and have found some inspiration, and if you have not done so yet there is still a chance to play in our challenge. All you need to do is use words somewhere on your project.

A place for keepsakes...

Hello everyone, Alison (butterfly) here again to share an altered box with you today.  I had a lovely time with this one, then hit a complete stall and then, with one risky piece of bold stamping, leapt over the block to end up with something which I really love!

It certainly started out somewhere completely different... as a cheapy gift box from Kik (sort of the Czech equivalent of Woolworths crossed with a pound store).  They were less than 50p each, and in a number of shapes and sizes, so I picked up quite a few.

I started with layers of paint, using a Claudine Hellmuth acrylic (Blank Canvas, so basically white!) for the first time - what great coverage!  I stuck ripped up pieces of Tim Holtz tissue wrap quite randomly onto the still wet paint and left the whole thing to dry.

Out with the Grunge Paste next... another first time for me, and I LOVE it!  I smeared on lots of lovely Harlequin diamonds - very happy with the ease of application (and the smell!).

Then some inking to start adding colour to the piece... layering up Faded Jeans, Chipped Sapphire, Frayed Burlap and Walnut Stain.

I used Cobalt Archival to stamp the delicious tiny polka dots as well as the butterfly from Katy Fox's Encyclopaedia Botanica set.

The little beetle is from the same set, and he's stamped in Coffee Archival, as is the tiny handwritten script from Katy's Carte Postale plate.

I used Distress Paints to alter some metal Idea-ology embellishments: one of the Bookplates, and some Foliage flowers and leaves.

The Chipped Sapphire paint has a slightly more purple-y hue than the ink, so I added some paint to the box edges too, so that the embellishments would tone in better with the whole piece.

The lovely Idea-ology word band added a much-needed horizontal element to the arrangement, but somehow I still wasn't happy with the whole thing.

It was all very pretty, but it was missing something.  I wish I had a photo of that stage to show you - as I think one could easily have stopped there... but I just couldn't quite leave it.  I tried adding some ribbon (various ribbons in fact)... no good.  And then, finally, taking a deep breath, I took the large, beautiful flower stamp from the Encyclopedia Botanica plate and stamped it right on the very top of the box.

Thankfully, it works beautifully (I think!)... a really bold statement against the delicate layers of the background.

Some old, discoloured tracing paper was the perfect colour to sit within the bookplate, and I used my Hero Arts letters to stamp the word k-e-e-p-s-a-k-e-s on it - making my altered box into somewhere precious to keep precious things.

Thank you so much for stopping by today.  I'd love to hear what you think... and don't forget there's still time to play along with our Words challenge here at The Artistic Stamper.  See you there!

Happy Crafting!
Alison x

Ingredients used:
Stamps: Artistic Stamper - Encyclopaedia Botanica, Carte Postale, Dots
Distress Inks - Chipped Sapphire, Faded Jeans, Frayed Burlap, Walnut Stain
Distress Paints - Picket Fence, Chipped Sapphire
Claudine Hellmuth Studio Paints - Blank Canvas
PaperArtsy Grunge Paste
Crafter's Workshop stencil - Harlequin 6x6
Idea-ology Findings - Ornate Plates, Foliage, Word Bands
Idea-ology Fastenings - Long Fasteners
Ranger Archival Ink - Coffee, Cobalt
Idea-ology Tissue Wrap - Terminology

A Stitch In Time by Emma

Hello everyone!! Emma here again with my latest creation to share with you all. As always, I've taken lots of pics to show you all the different features on this piece, so I hope you like what I've made and enjoy!

To begin with I cut a piece of Manila card to measure the same size as a Size 8 tag and I applied Seedless Preserves, Wild Honey and Fired Brick Distress Paints to the card, blending the colours together with water.

I then used one of my favourite and most loved and used stamp ~ the circles from the Swirls, Splats and Dots A5 stamp sheet and randomly stamped them onto the background using Seedless Preserves DI. I then stamped the tape measure from Katy Fox's "A Stitch In Time" stamp set along the bottom of my background. I matted my background onto a piece of black card, with the edges slightly distressed and edged with Brushed Pewter Metallic Distress Paint, then layered both onto a piece of kraft card.

Next, I covered some chipboard with sticky back aluminium and left some chipboard bare and die cut one mannequin and the cotton spool from the bare chipboard, using the Sizzix/Tim Holtz Sewing Room die and using the metal covered chipboard, I die cut the body of the mannequin and the wings from the Sizzix/ Tim Holtz Heart Wings Die, both dies I have in my stash. I also die cut two pediments using the Sizzix Bigz Pediments die. I used Tim's faux riveted metal technique on the body of the mannequin and then applied Black Soot Distress Paint and Tarnished Brass over the all the metal covered pieces of chipboard to give an aged effect and added them to the main body of the mannequin.

I applied Wild Honey Distress Stain to a strip of seam binding and Brushed Pewter Distress Stain to a second piece. I then used the tape measure stamp and stamped it directly onto the pewter coloured seam binding, using black Archival Ink. I tied the binding into a bow around the waist of the mannequin.

I then attached all my die cut pieces onto the main cardstock background.

Next, I took some cream card, covered some of the card with Brushed Pewter Distress Paint and some of the card with Old Paper DI. Using stamps from Katy Fox's ~ A Stitch In Time stamp plate, I stamped various bits and pieces onto the card, cut them all out and then piled them up onto my creation.

I painted the cotton spool black and then added some more of the Brushed Pewter Distress Paint over the top before winding some twine around it and then adding that to my piece, together with two decorative pins tucked into the twine.

Finally, as the finishing touch, I used an Idea-ology Light Bulb from my stash and attached it to the head of my mannequin.

So, that's it from me for today and I really hope this piece has inspired you and you love what I've made, just as much as I loved creating it!

See you all again very soon and don't forget you still have plenty of time to enter our Words challenge. Just click HERE to be whisked to the post with all the details of how to enter ~ we look forward and to seeing your creations!

Bye for now...Emma x

Now I have a dryer... by Titbelsoeur

Hi Gals, this is Titbelsoeurs showing you some little things that will once be part of a "big picture"...

I have stamped messages on wooden clothespins, some left natural, others sprayed with Distress ink.
Here they are :

Stamps used :

Numerical Plate, A stitch in Time and Carte Postale from http://www.theartisticstamper.com/katy_fox_stamps.htm
Creative, Imagine, A Journey...,  from http://www.theartisticstamper.com/words_and_sayings.htm
Time and Keys from http://www.theartisticstamper.com/time_stamps.htm 
 

I hope you like my idea and will copy it ! I will show you what to do with later,

Thanks for stopping by, I am really looking forward to reading your comments !

A tout bientôt !

Titbelsoeur

You're The One by Alison (Craftytrog)

Hello Stampers! Craftytrog here again, with a card to share with you this time.

Here's how it was made...

To make the background, dab Stream & Red Pepper Paint Dabbers on your craft mat, spritze with water, then schmoosh some white card through it, until you get the desired look.

Lay the Confetti Crafter's Workshop 6x6 Stencil over the background, & use cut & dry foam to dab black paint through it. 

Stamp some script, using Red Pepper paint. Dab some Stream paint onto bubble wrap, & use it to stamp on the background too.

Stamp Donna's Cropped Union on white card, paint the hair with red pepper, cut out, edge with black archival, then adhere to the background.

Stamp the phrase from Tim Holtz's Words for Thought on white card, cut it out, ink the edges with black, then glue to the background. 

Use red pepper paint to stamp some Mini Polka Dots, making sure some go over the images & words. Use a small lid to stamp some circles with Gold paint.

Mat the background onto card painted with red pepper, then attach to a square white card blank.

Thanks for looking,

see you next month,

Alison xxx

Inspired by Nature Distress Paints winner

Hello everyone, welcome! This is Astrid. As promised I will tell you the winner of three colours of Distress Paint giveaway, posted here last Sunday , but before I do, a big thank you to all of you who entered and also for all of your lovely comments. Very much appreciated!! So here goes...... drumrolll please......  Number 21 Wendy L 

Please contact me with your address Wendy so I can send you your paints!

Have a creative Sunday still everyone, hope the weather is better where you are, here it looks more like November

Mail Art envelope: by Zuzu

 

Yes, I am here with a postman's nightmare... highly decorated mail art.
its another quick simple project from me as I don't have full access to my craft supplies for quite a while yet. 
I know the postman needs to be able to see the address clearly so i am not sure how valid mail art really is but its fun making the envelope a wee bit more exciting than a plain simple colour.

I coloured my envelope with chalk inks and when it had dried completely I started stamping and sticking. I used the airmail look Washi tape to start with and stuck to the typical airmail colour scheme, blue and red.

i tried to add in some other post office type themes like brown wrapping paper, measuring tapes, post cards, luggage tags etc. I used the brown paper to help create a "ransom note" style on one of the quotes.

Supplies used:

Ephemera collage stamps HERE
Animal/ Bird collage elements HERE
Washi tape HERE
Journal tickets HERE
black and red stazon ink HERE

We Will Always... by Sioux Jenneys

Hiya all! I'm sharing something a little different that includes a tag this time! HOL I'm all loved up....and wanted to wrap up a DVD that I bought as a surprise for my boyfriend....how snugly does that sound :)

1. Stamp some basic plain brown packaging paper with the background stamp of your choice in Archival Sepia, I used the Music background... don't be too concerned with lining the images up exactly....believe me it will not be noticeable once the package is wrapped. ;)

2. Cut a tag from kraft card and one from white card using the Sizzex Tiny tags and tabs die and stamp the script from Carte Postale plate in Archival coffee and age edges with Distress Ink walnut stain....cut the white one smaller on all sides and age with some Distress Ink Antique linen and attach adding a hole reinforcer cut from the same die.

3. I used words from Journaling Mini Words 1 but did not have the word "have" so cut individual letters from different words and glued them to some card...it was a bit fiddly but so worth it! :) I used part of the Paris postage from Paris to London plate and coloured with a Distress Marker in worn lipstick. The words were stuck to black card to finish.

4. I stamped the word Carte Postale from the Carte Postale set and the Fleur De Ly's from the T!m Paris to London plate in Archival coffee. Stamped one of the crowns from Crowning Glory onto metal, cut out using Tim Holtz scissors and puffed out the metal using a Ten Seconds Studio tool and attached to the tag. Wrap the gift, secure with some Bakers Twine and attach the tag.

Why not give your loved one a surprise package this week :) See you again soon!

xoxo Sioux