The Roaring Twenties by Linda Ledbetter

Hello, crafty friends! This is Linda from StudioL3.com, back for my third and final project as Guest Designer for the fabulously lovely folks at The Artistic Stamper.

This three-paneled card features imagery from the beautiful 1920s Ladies Plate, part of The Artistic Stamper's costume category. I just adore these elegant ladies. I stamped each of them onto Ranger's Specialty Stamping Paper using Jet Black Archival Ink, then colored them with Distress Markers. The mottled backgrounds were created by scribbling Distress Markers onto my non-stick Craft Sheet, picking up ink with a Water Brush and "pouncing" the bristles onto the paper.

I mounted each image panel onto a piece of heavy cardstock that I'd painted with Tarnished Brass Distress Paint, the mounted the three onto a piece of black mat board. Finally, I stamped the text onto plain white cardstock, outlined the edges with a black marker, and attached the words using dimensional foam tape.

It's truly been an honor to be The Artistic Stamper's guest designer, and I'm so grateful to Emma, Jenny and everyone at TAS for their hospitality! Thanks to you, too, for sharing your time with me. I hope you have a spectacular day!

xo,
Linda

There is always a first time....

Hello stampers and welcome to the blog. This is Astrid here to share a card.

Yes, you read that right, this is Astrid and yes, I know it is not my usual style at all.

I have always been a huge admire of people that can create beautiful CAS cards, something I had never done before, but there is always a first right?

Now to be honest, this card is totally cased on a card by Chrissie Stokes, which I saw in the September 2013 issue of the Craft Stamper magazine, so if you want you can read instructions there, but of course I used Artistic Stamper stamps.
I folded a piece of white card to the size I wanted and then masked off the bottom part of it with Post-its like Chrissie describes.
Next I stamped the Calligraphic Mat 12 in Versamark ink and heat embossed with Wow Clear Matt Dull regular powder .
With some Ink Duster brushes I brushed first Chipped Sapphire and then Gathered Twigs Distress Inks around the edges of my card, getting lighter toward the top and right hand side. I wanted the edges to be still a bit darker so also went round it once more with Adirondack Dye Ink in Espresso. 

I then inked up the Speckle background with the Espresso and added a few speckles around the outside.

Covering my piece with some kitchen paper I now ironed off the embossing powder to leave just the white stamping and then inked up the Rose from the Botanical 3 Plate in a combination of Library Green and Plum Archival Ink, stamped it in place and smudged out the colours a bit with some Cut-n-Dry Pen nibs.

The final step was to take away the mask and stamp my sentiment from the Tim Holtz Way With Words set in Jet Black Archival ink.

So, when was the last time you did something for the very first time? Well, I did when I made this card and I loved doing it, so it won't be the last.

Thank you for dropping by today, hope you like my card and that you will try something new soon!
Thanks for visiting and see you next time!

Book of the Flowers

Hello everyone.  It's Alison (butterfly) here with a Book of the Flowers (any takers for the pun on the medieval Book of the Hours, then? - illuminated manuscripts to die for).

It's rusty, crackly, inky, glossy and made of beermats... what more could you possibly want?!

I started out with some blank beermats (coasters, if you prefer), and added torn book pages fairly randomly to each side.

Tissue tape was next, to add another bit of interest for the eye, and then a rough coat of gesso to soften the background text and images.

I used flower stamps from the Botanical Plate 1, as well as from Katy Fox's Encyclopaedia Botanica.

They're stamped in Sepia and Coffee Archival.

I gave them a gentle watercolour tinting with Distress Stains too, though I'm not sure that's still visible.

The final layer on the flowers was a thick layer of gloss glaze to give them a bit of a sheen.

I inked the edges of the pages with Vintage Photo and Gathered Twigs DIs, and added some Rock Candy Crackle Paint for texture.

Once that was dry, I inked the pages with various other DIs - Peacock Feathers is certainly in there, and Broken China, and I think Mowed Lawn, probably, too.

The quotes are stamped onto tea/coffee-stained tags, and layered onto the pages over some of my rusted muslin.  And I had fun doing some inky splatters too...  (You can see who said what at the foot of the post, if you're interested.)

The rusted muslin also takes centre stage on the front and back covers - a purely accidental floral background!

Where I rusted up the Idea-ology flowers, they left a masked version of themselves on the muslin, which seemed perfect to create the front cover.

I've added one of the Idea-ology Ornate Plates too, which has also had the rusting treatment (check out this post if you want to know more about that).

The back cover is made of some more rusted muslin, simply stuck onto the back of the coaster, and some rusted book rings bind the whole thing together.

For a more decorative fastening, I added some Distress Stain-dyed seam binding, and tied it in a big bow.

So that's your lot for today.  You've still got just about a week to join in with the August Challenge - Postcards, Travel and Holidays - here at The Artistic Stamper, so I'll hope to see you there... but for now I'll wish you a wonderful weekend, and happy crafting!

Quotes:
Flowers really do intoxicate me.
Vita Sackville-West

Just living is not enough - one must have sunshine, freedom, and a little flower.
Hans Christian Andersen

Let us dance in the sun, wearing wild flowers in our hair.
Susan Polis Schutz

Ingredients used:
Artistic Stamper stamps: Encyclopaedia Botanica; Botanical Plate 1
Distress Stains: Vintage Photo, Broken China, Faded Jeans, Tumbled Glass, Mowed Lawn, Peeled Paint
Distress Inks: Vintage Photo, Gathered Twigs, Peacock Feathers, Broken China, Mowed Lawn, Faded Jeans
Idea-ology: Ornate Plates
Tissue Tape: Sketchbook
Rock Candy Crackle Paint
Archival Ink: Sepia, Coffee
Manila tags
Seam binding
Multi-Medium Gloss
From stash: muslin, bookpages, beermats

The Secret Garden by Emma

Hello everyone!! For my second post of August, I thought it would be nice to hold onto Summer as long as we could...so, I decided to make this canvas featuring butterflies and flowers. As always, I've taken lots of pictures to show you all the details and I hope you love what I've created...

To begin with, I covered my 7" x 5" canvas with Tim Holtz Composer Tissue Wrap before adding the colour using Distress Paints. I chose Picked Raspberry, Salted Ocean, Bundled Sage and Antique Linen and once applied over the top of the wrap, I gave them a good spritz with water before allowing them to drip down the canvas. Once I was happy with the way it looked, I added Black Soot around the edges and applied Picket Fence onto one of the Swirls, Spots and Splats stamps from the A5 set, to add some texture.

Next, I added some small torn off strips of Sketchbook Tissue Tape onto the canvas and applied some drips of white acrylic paint, which completed the overall background to my piece.

To make the roses, I used Tim's Tattered Florals die from Sizzix and then coloured each of the die cuts with Salted Ocean and Picked Raspberry Distress Inks before making them into dimensional blooms and giving them a quick spritz with Biscotti Perfect Pearls Mists, to add a subtle shimmer.

I stamped the gorgeous large butterfly and some of the smaller butterflies from the Insects and Butterflies No.1 stamp plate onto a piece of white card and coloured them with Distress Marker pens, adding "dotty" highlights to the wings of the smaller ones, using a white pen.

I shaped the wings of each of them and added twisted wire for their antennae. I then arranged my dimensional blooms, added some die cut leaves using a die in my stash and the butterflies onto the canvas and finally, attached the Butterfly Words quote using an Idea-ology Memo Pin.

So, that's it from me today! Thank you so much for taking the time to pop by and visit and I can't wait to read all your comments. Don't forget you still have time to enter this month's challenge which is all about Postcards, Travel and Holidays and we'd love you to share all your wonderful creations with us!! All the details of the challenge are HERE.

See you all soon and hope you have a wonderful weekend full of creativity!

Emma x

Another day at the sea by Titbelsoeur

Not usual that I show you an AJ page, though I am a compulsive art journaler : today I want to show you an art journal page of mine.

I made it just to test the new background stamps from the Artistic Stamper. And also to use these "big girls you are beautiful" from Jeanne Lorioz that I really love !

The combination appeared obvious to me to use the Random Background stamp that looks like sand, since my ladies are having good time on the beach !

Sea and sky are stamped blue on blue with Marbled 2 Background

And to be sure that everyone understands they actually are on the beach, I have added the beach umbrella and shells from the Seaside No. 1 # 018 plate.

Hoping you are having a good time

This AJ page is for you, and I hope you like it,

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

A tout bientôt !

Titbelsoeur

Metallic Floral Cuff by Alison (Craftytrog)

Hello Stampers!

For my second August post, I have some wearable art to share with you.

 I began by cutting an 8.5 x 2.5 inch strip of Grungepaper.

I embossed it with a Tim Holtz Sizzix embossing folder, to add some texture. 

Then, I painted both sides with black Studio Gesso, & once this was dry, I applied some coppery Guilding Wax to it. I added some green gold highlights, dried it with a heat tool, & buffed it with a soft cloth.

I cut 2 strips of Studio Sticky Back Canvas, one 8.5 x 1.5 inches, & one 8.5 x 0.625 inches. I spritzed the thinner strip with Cut Grass Dylusion Spray, & the wider strip with Vibrant Turquoise Dylusion Spray. On the wider strip, I placed the Andy Skinner Rollerball stencil over the top, & spritzed with water, to take out some of the colour, & leave a dotty pattern. I used Studio Black Gesso to stamp the Chevron Element onto the narrow green canvas strip.

I glued the canvas strips to the Grungepaper base with Glossy Accents, for extra stick.

I used various Guilding Waxes to colour some large eyelets & some Ideaology Foliage.

I punched some holes with a Cropadile, & added the eyelets. I attached the Foliage with turquoise pearl brads, then added an Ideaology Hitch Fastening to one end of the cuff.

I added some rather suspect hand-stitching around the hole at the other end of the cuff, so don't look too closely! Lol! 

I hope you like my arty cuff! I don't know about you, but I do love to make art that I can wear :o)

Thanks for looking,

Alison xxx

Fabric book pages: By Zuzu

I have been making a fabric book in the last few days,(you may have seen this cover on my blog) and I completed two pages using Artistic Stamper stamps (these two pages have not been shown elsewhere yet);  I used Katy Fox stamps to be precise. I used two different plates here. the main flower image, the text definitions, the insect and the butterfly are all from Encyclopaedia Botanica sheet and the little numbers are from the Numerical plate.  you can find both of them HERE.  

 

To make the definitions look like they were from an old book, i stained my fabric with antique linen distress stains. (appropriate really). I made sure it was dry before trying to stamp over it using stazon jet black. I did the same with the numbers but dabbed some of the colour back out using a baby wipe. it just helped with variety in colour depths on the page.

The piece of fabric I stamped the flowers on to was burned around the edges using a joss/incense stick (its safer than a naked flame and more controllable). i used watercolour pencils to add the colour. 

I used the little stamped out numbers on several pages throughout the book....

Edited to add: I do not have a sewing machine. this is hand stitched and also uses some fabric glue. just to clarify for those of you who think you cant do this project without a machine ;) 

That's it from me this month. thanks for looking and for your comments. They are always appreciated.

Z x

Share my World by Sioux Jenneys

Hello everyone! It's my turn again and I decided to make a little thrinchie (3 inch by 3 inch size) hanging piece :)

1. Stamp the Gibson Girl 4 in Versafine black and colour the hair with Distress markers in tea dye, add some shading to the face with a touch of antique linen, colour the lips with worn lipstick and add a touch of chipped sapphire to the eyes.

2. Mask the gibson girl and colour the background by using a brush to stipple on Distress Ink in worn lipstick and spice marmalade.

3. Leaving the mask in place stipple some Distress Ink walnut stain through a Crafters Workshop template.

4. Remove the mask and add your sentiment of choice. I used words from Journaling Mini Words mounted on some black card and then mounted the thrinchie on black card too.

5. I cut a label die and cut that in half and puched a hole at the top. It was then stamped with the Europe Map background in Versafine black and coloured with some Distress Ink walnut stain before attaching to the back of the thrinchie along with a die cut crown. A hand made fimo heart was added to the bottom corner threaded with a bit of twine.

 See you again soon!

xoxo Sioux

Carpe Diem by Linda Ledbetter

Hi there! This is Linda from Studio L3, back for my second Guest Designer project using some of my very favorite Artistic Stamper images. I'm so grateful to be featured this month, and I'm having an absolute blast with these wonderful stamps!

This happy little card began with Hels Sheridan's ADORABLE Swirly Bird #3 stamp (isn't he the sweetest?!), which I stamped twice onto Ranger's Specialty Stamping Paper. I colored both copies with Distress Markers in Tumbled Glass and Broken China and blended the colors with a Water Brush. Once dry, I cut out the entire bird from one copy, and just his little wing from the other. I embellished them with Stickles (True Blue, Tropical Tangerine and Red), the set the pieces aside to dry while I worked on the background. 

I used watercolor paper for the background, and started with a base of Dylusions Ink Spray in Bubblegum Pink, Lemon Zest and Squeezed Orange, spritzing them onto damped paper so the colors blended. Then I used a portion of Dyan's Dotted Flowers 9 x 12" stencil and sprayed with Cherry Pie Ink, then quickly blotted the paper with a baby wipe to lighten the color a bit. Once the paper dried, I randomly stamped the little diamonds from the Borders A5#1 set using Seedless Preserves Distress Ink.

The side borders (from the same Borders A5 #1 set) and the "Carpe Diem" (from the Journaling Words set) were stamped using a Pitch Black Adirondack Paint Dabber, then over-stamped with Snow Cap Adirondack Paint. 

I assembled the card by layering the bird onto the card-- and his wing onto his body-- using foam tape. I added a feather I found in my garden, and the "go get it" from Tim Holtz's Chitchat Stickers. I stamped and cut out one little pennant from the Borders set and drew a heart on it with Red Stickles, then attached it to the card with foam tape and a bit of twine. To finish, I added more Stickles and mounted the card onto a piece of white watercolor paper, then colored the edges with Ripe Persimmon Distress Marker. 

I had so much fun making this!

Thanks again to Jennie, Emma and the Artistic Stamper Team for welcoming me, and to YOU for visiting today. I'll be back later in August for one more project. Until then... carpe diem!

Enjoy the Journey Shabby Chic style...

Hello everyone and thank you for dropping by  today. Astrid here with a little Shabby Chic wall plaque:

These are the stamps and products I used:
Gibson Girls Plate 1
Calligraphic Mat 12
Labels
Tim Holtz Simple Sayings
Distress Inks in Vintage Linen, Victorian Velvet, Tattered Rose,Weathered Wood, Frayed Burlap
Archival Ink Jet Black
Tim Holtz Rock Candy Crackle Paint
Distress Stain in Vintage Photo
And from my stash:
Tim Holtz Baroque Die
Distressed Doily Die
Spellbinders Flower dies
Some Lace
Perfect Pearl pen
Mount board
Titan Buff Acrylic Paint
Treasure Gold in White Fire
Scrapbook papers (Prima)
Grey Charcoal pencil
Sewing machine

I started by cutting a Baroque frame out of mount board ( I bought a huge bag of off cuts from my local frame shop for £5 but have heard some frame shops even give it away for free, well worth checking out) I cut the baroque label die once more out of paper and inked it with my chosen Distress colours. I then stamped some of the labels of the labels set in Weathered Wood to add some more interest to the background.painted the frame with Titan Buff paint and when dry covered it in a fairly thin layer of Rock Candy Crackle paint. I dried it with my heat gun to make it bubble a bit. When it had dried and crackled I swiped the Distress Stain over it (Like Tim describes in his July Tag) and then rubbed some Treasure Gold over the raised bits .
Next I stamped one of the ladies from the Gibson Girls set and paper pieced her by stamping once on smooth card and once on a scrap of Prima paper. I cut them out, coloured her body with tattered Rose,  pieced them together and then adhered them to my baroque label. I drew a little bit of a grey shadow around her for extra depth. The baroque label seems to be made to fit this lady just inside it...

I gave the lady a little necklace by adding a pearl with my pearl pen and drew the little chain.
Next came the background, I cut another bit of 6 x 6" scrapbook paper in matching colours, inked around the edges with Weathered Wood and stamped some more of the labels and the Calligraphic Mat 12 all in Weathered Wood. Then I sewed around the edges and distressed them.
Next I created some ephemera to tuck behind the frame. I stamped some labels again in Weathered Wood on bits of  paper, coloured them with Antique Linen, Weathered Wood and Brushed Corduroy, distressed and crumpled them to make them look old and tucked them in behind the frame.

Next I glued some lace around my backing paper, cut a distressed doily out of white card, glued it on top and then the frame and ephemera on top of that.

The final step was to embellish with some home made flowers and leaves I still had lying around from a previous project, and then mounted all of that on a piece of 8 x 8" mount board.

One of the Tim Holtz simple saying mounted on a small strip of mount board finished it all off.

Well, there you have it. In my mind I can think of all sorts of stories about this lady and why she is kneeling there like this, but this post has become long enough as it is already.....

Hope you like my wall plaque, thank you for visiting and I hope you are having a creative week!