The Birds and the Bees ~ by Dot Allan

"The Birds and the Bees"

is my 3rd DT piece for The Artistic Stamper!

Spring is in the air up North and the flowers are starting to pop out and brighten everyone's gardens up.  

Flowers, birds and bees are the first thing that come to mind 

and seemed appropriate for this card.

Like the other two projects, I have used specialty paper 

and re-inkers as my base.

My inspiration has come from the "Botanical Plate 1" 

and "Birds of a Feather" stamp sets 

from Jennie's shop...these really are gorgeous stamps!

The background has been kept fairly simple, then splattered with distress inks.  I am trying to "embrace white", 

which isn't all that easy to do when you are use to working with

lots of ink.

This lot of pics shows a step x step progression of the masking 

that I used to build up the 

base story of the card.

(sorry if the pics aren't quite focused, but it had to be stamped and photographed quickly as the light was fading fast)

To finish the card off I have added some dimension by

stamping more flowers onto scrap pieces of the background,

fussy cutting and adding using magic mount.
This just adds that little bit more depth and gives the chance to throw in some more colour to make it pop.

Some tissue tape on the edges.

And mounting the piece onto black cardstock

that has been edged with Fresco Finish Paints.

I like how they have kept their colour on the black cardstock!

I have had heaps of fun this month here at 

The Artistic Stamper  

and I would like to thank Jennie and her team for inviting

me over to play.

The Artistic Stamper Stamps ~

• Botanical Plate 1
• Birds of a Feather
• Insects and Butterflies

Other Stamps ~

• Stampers Anonymous - Urban Chic
• Stampers Anonymous - Nature Walk

Other Items ~

• Tissue tape
• Specialty paper
• Archival re-inkers
• Distress inks
• Fresco Finish Paints
• Versafine - black onyx
• gold pen

  Enjoy!

Celebrating Spring by Astrid

Hello everyone and lovely to have you visiting!
Hope you all had a good Easter!
For my second project this month I decided to make a little Springtime hanger.

I took one of the Paper Mache Icons, this one is the 20.2 x 10 x 1.3 cm one. First I added some texture with the help of a Tim Holtz and a  Crafters Workshop stencil, the Gothic Romance one and some Grunge Paste, when that was dry I gave it a coat of Snowflake Fresco Finish Paint. Then for a more grungy look I added some Picket Fence Distress Crackle paint.

Hard to see on the photo, but if you look closely you can see the crackle. It's much bigger on the heart, because I put it on more thickly. I also added some texture to the sides in the same way.

Next I added some colour, I decided to use some of the new Wendy Vecchi Archival Inks. I used Dandelion,Cornflowers, a tiny bit of Leaf Green, Tree Branch and Potting Soil. I applied it using some make up sponges. I also did some background Stamping using the Calligraphic Mat 12 stamp and stenciling using Watering Can.

Time to add a vocal point. I decided it had to be a butterfly from the Butterflies and Insects set.
Sometimes it works better to add background colour first before stamping your image and then colouring it afterwards, so I prepared a bit of smooth stamping paper with some Dandelion Archival ink and some home made gold shimmer spray.

I then stamped my chosen  butterfly, fussy cut it and adhered it to the panel, after darkening the centre a little bit with a Walnut Stain Distress Marker

Some flowers, Tim Holtz chip board letters and chit chat stickers finished it all off.

Hope you like my hanger and don't forget, there are a few days left still to join in our challenge, Embossing and Texture.

Have a happy inky day

Cry Me A River

Hello everyone, Alison (butterfly) here with a hanging icon to share with you today.  It all started because I wanted to play with my new Croco Crackling Colour, and ended up taking on a musical twist... singing the blues again!

I guess my Our Creative Corner challenge to use a song title or lyrics has infected me more than I'd realised!  Part way through, the project just started to take on the flavour of the brilliant Cry Me A River (sung by the extraordinary Julie London in the link I've given you).

I began by smearing the Croco Crackling onto opposite corners of the hanging board with a palette knife.  Mine's white to start with, though it also comes in gold.  I left it overnight to crackle, though I don't think it needed that long - but I had several other things on the go at the same time, so there was plenty to be getting on with.

I love the chunky crackle effect - I put it on quite thickly to get this, and I didn't intentionally create that river flowing down the centre, but that's what it turned into once it was blue!

Once it was completely dry, I added various colours of Distress Stains, all shades of blue, over the top, blending with an occasional spritz of water as I went.

The woman is one of my favourites from the Faces No.2 stamp plate.  She's stamped in a combination of Cobalt, Cornflower Blue and Hydrangea Archival inks, and inked with at touch of Faded Jeans Distress Ink, so as to tone in with the Distress Stains.

I mounted her over some swirls of white water (otherwise known as cheesecloth), frothing as it charges downriver.

And the chains of grief still surround her, echoing the path of the river of tears (those would be Idea-ology Lace Chains of grief).

The Idea-ology Enamelled Tag is adorned with some Tim Holtz rub-ons.  The eye was a must, and some of the damask flourishes seemed to work well with the whole look of the piece.

And the words...

... the pay-off line of the refrain...

... always with me the words!

Everything pours over the edges, of course - you know me! - so the swirling waters continue in three dimensions.

So that's me for today - singing the blues (though that's not necessarily a sign that I'm unhappy - I have an ex-boyfriend who used to complain that I sang sad songs when I was happy and when I was blue, so how was he supposed to tell?  What can I say?  I like sad songs!).  I hope you like it.

Thanks so much for stopping by.  Don't forget, there's still almost a week to join in with our Embossing and Texture challenge here at The Artistic Stamper - hope to see you there!

Ingredients used:

Artistic Stamper stamps: Faces #2

Papier Mâché Icon

Croco Crackling Colour in White

Distress Stains: Chipped Sapphire, Faded Jeans, Stormy Sky, Tumbled Glass, Broken China

Idea-ology: Enamelled Tag, Lace Chains from my stash

Archival Inks: Cornflower Blue, Cobalt, Hydrangea

Distress Inks: Faded Jeans

Background stamps part II by Titbelsoeur

Hi crazy stampers !
2 weeks ago, I showed you how I had made an original background spraying ink on my stamp instead of inking it with a pad.
The card I am showing you today was made with the 2nd use of the stamp, I had just sprayed some water to revive the colors, hence the shadows here and there :

I then enhanced my background applying Broken China and Worn Lipstick Distress inks through the Dot Masks with foam.

Since my Architecture stamps were on my table, I stamped the word "Art" and the column again, and completed with Chevron Elements, Messy Art arrows and "I made this", a clock and a Gibson girl on to a book page :

To make this card, I used :
Dot masks
Archival ink
Dylusions Inks  
Distress inks and foam
and stamps :
 
Chevron Elements
Background stamps : Linen and Calligraphic Mat 13
Architecture plates : Art and column
Gibson girls
Time
Journaling 

And I have tested this technique on to other supports and with other stamps. Some results looked great, others were not convincing or simply ugly, it really depends on the stamp you use, anyway I am sure I will use this technique again, using the stamps that match with it... Some outlooks :

 

 

 and I have swept the leftover on pages of my artbook :

I would be very happy if my technique does inspire you, 

thank you so much for stopping by, 

I am looking forward to reading your comments !

Do not hesitate to ask for any help !

A tout bientôt,

Titbelsoeur 

Inspiration Hanging by Alison (Craftytrog)

Hello Stampers! Today I have a piece of hanging art to share with you.

I actually took some step-by-step photos for once! Lol!

Here's what I started with, a piece of corrugated packaging, & some leftover strips from Gelli prints & other projects.

I began by brayering some Snowflake Fresco Finish paint on my packaging. Then I used a mini brayer to apply some colour. As you can see, I used Zesty Zing, Beach Hut & Autumn Fire.

Next, I stamped in a few places, using Calligraphic Mat 11 & Black Archival Ink.

I then used Ranger Glue & Seal Matte to glue down my painty strips, alternating positioning them vertical & horizontal.

I used the Crafter's Workshop stencil, Dina's Mini Boulders, which at the time of writing, is on special offer HERE, & applied Grunge Paste through it.

When the GP was dry, I re-positioned the stencil, & sponged Autumn Fire paint over the top.

I stamped the Journaling Mini Words onto white card, then cut out the words I wanted to use. I used Glue & Seal Matte to attach them to the circles, then added shading to the words & circles, using a black aquarellable pencil.

I inked the edges of my artwork, then matted it onto black card.

I finished by adding some metal eyelets & some ball chain.

Here's my finished hanging again...

Thanks for dropping by,

Alison xxx