"Thinking of you...." Tag By Zuzu.

 

Hello... Zuzu here:
Well as I got my first ever die cutting machine (BigShot) at the beginning of this month, I HAD to do something that involved cutting out with my one and only die (so far). So I have made a tag that features a large flower and leaves.

Firstly I inked a large buff tag using distress stains and inks. I used Antique linen, vintage photo, peeled paint and worn lipstick. I applied the ink randomly using a blending tool. then i stamped on the Katy Fox  "postcard" stamp in black archival ink. next i used the new  Leaf background stamp. I used peeled paint distress ink and stamped over the full tag.

I cut out my "Tattered floral" flowers out of card and used the large broad petalled flower. I inked them with worn lipstick, fired brick and vintage photo . I cut out four of them, cutting sections out of the inner layers to make them easier to fold in to a cone shape... Tim Holtz has a tutorial on his blog that shows you what to do (his example is with a different die cut but the principal is the same.) you can find his step by step HERE.  once it was assembled i sprayed over it with Heirloom Gold perfect pearls mist. I also cut out some leaves (Astrid was visiting and had brought lots of dies for me to try out) and inked them.

Next i inked some plain card using worn lipstick, fired brick and vintage photo on enough card to stamp out my words "Thinking of you" and to make a backing mat for the main image... and I also inked a piece of card with just a light touch of peeled paint and vintage photo to print out my collage lady stamp... I used my paper distresser tool on all the edges (including the tag), then assembled all the pieces. The ribbon is a bit of calico i ripped off and inked with "pesto" alcohol ink. you dont need much if you add it to a touch of blending solution in a saucer and dip the fabric in to it till it soaks it up.
See you in a couple of weeks. 
Z x

Nature's Little Helper by Emma

Hello everyone!

It's already time for me to share my second post of the month and I decided to make a little hanging plaque to celebrate Spring arriving, using one of the gorgeous Mabel Lucie Attwell stamps as my focus point.

Here's how I made it ~

To begin with I stamped the Mabel Lucie Attwell image, Nature's Little Helper onto watercolour paper and coloured it using Distress Marker Pens (which incidentally are just the best pens I have ever owned ~ I love them!!). I scribbled some colour from the pens onto my craft mat and then hand painted the image using a waterbrush. Next, using Tim Holtz's Cabinet Die from Sizzix, I die cut a piece of chipboard and adhered my finished artwork onto this.

I then took a piece of corrugated cardboard from an old box and once again, used the Cabinet Die, together with the Movers and Shapers Mini Cabinet Die inside, I die cut the cardboard to make a frame. I used the Gold Metallic Paint Dabber over the frame, brushed some Vintage Photo DI over the edges for an aged look and then covered it with Rock Candy Crackle Paint. Once it was dry, I added the frame to my artwork. 

Next, I stamped six of the smallest of the flower shapes from the Flower Power Stamp Plate onto Grungepaper, blended Seedless Preserves DI over them and then shaped the petals into two 3D flower blooms. 

I used the Mini Tattered Leaves die to die cut leaves from a sheet of clear Clearly For Art and blended lettuce Alcohol Ink over the top, before moulding them into shape. I then added the finished elements to my frame, together with a decorative pin.

With the Movers and Shapers, Mini Butterflies die, I cut two butterflies from some more of the Grungepaper, blended Ripe Persimmon and Seedless Preserves DI over the shapes and adhered them to my frame. I inked up the "Creative" stamp with black Archival ink, stamped it onto a piece of card, blended Antique Linen DI over the top and cut it into a banner shape before adding this to the finished artwork.

Finally, I punched a hole in the top of the frame and added some twine, tied into a loop so it will hang.

So, that's about it from me for today...I hope you feel inspired to get inky and start creating. Don't forget that we would love to see your creations in our TRAVEL challenge ~ you have until the end of March to submit your entries.

See you again very soon!

Bye for now.

Emma x

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

Shot Through The Heart by Emma

Hello everyone!!

It's that time of the month when I get to share my first piece with you all and today, I thought it would be nice to continue the theme of our ongoing HEARTS challenge and make something for Valentine's Day. I had lots of bits and bobs, scraps of paper and sheets of chipboard hanging around my craft room, which I'd kept with the thought that one day they might be useful and so, I thought the time had now come to recycle them all, and this is what all those bits and bobs made...

To begin with I covered an old CD with various colours of alcohol inks. Once I achieved the desired effect, I just dabbed some Snow Cap Mixative over the top. I then painted an old ribbon spool, that I had left over from the Christmas wrapping, with Claudine Hellmuth's Studio Paint in Traditional Tan, set it to one side to dry, before inking up the edges with Vintage Photo Distress Ink.

Once the painted ribbon spool was secured into place onto my CD base, I die cut the Mannequin shape from the Sewing Room set of Tim Holtz's Alterations dies out of chipboard and covered it with Charcoal Black Studio Paint. I then die cut a separate piece of the body section of the mannequin from a piece of sticky back canvas and stuck this to my painted chipboard shape, once again inking the edges with Vintage Photo Distress Ink. I adhered some sticky back aluminium to a piece of chipboard, die cut a set of wings from this and then ran it used a Texture Fade to emboss each wing. I adhered the wings to my main body shape and then stuck the completed die cut shape to my painted ribbon spool base, using Glossy Accents and waited for it to dry, so that the Mannequin was securely in position.

Using the Movers and Shapers Mini Tattered Florals die, I die cut enough petals to make five dimensional roses which I then blended with Fired Brick Distress Ink and misted with Forever Red Perfect Pearls Mists. Once dry, I inked up one of the Calligraphy Mats with Black Archival Ink and stamped onto each petal before making up the dimensional blooms and sticking them to the base of my piece.

Next, I triple embossed a heart shape piece of chipboard, using red embossing powder. I then die cut the arrow from Tim's Valentine Silhouettes set using some more of the aluminium covered chipboard and covered it with alcohol inks before attaching it to the body of my mannequin.

Finally, I stamped the word "Imagine" onto a piece of cream card, inked the edges with Antique Linen DI and made a banner shape. I stuck this to the inside section of the ribbon spool and finished the piece with some vintage seam binding coloured with Antique Linen Distress Stain.

So, that about it from me and I really hope you like my recycled creation.

See you all soon and hope you have a lovely Friday and a very creative weekend.

Emma x

Can We Keep Him? ~ by Emma

Hi everyone...Emma here!!

It's already time for my third and final post of the month and for this post, I wanted to share a freestanding easel plaque that I made using a stamp from Mabel Lucie Attwell, together with some more of those gorgeous Perfect Pearls Mists  that are still on offer at The Artistic Stamper with a 15% discount, right up until the end of January...

So, here's what I made and how I created it...

First of all, I cut a piece of chipboard, 15cm square in size. Next I took a piece of cream paper, blended it with Antique Linen Distress Ink, scrunched the paper up into a ball and then flattened it out to give a creased look to my background. I then swiped the Vintage Photo Distress Ink Pad over the top before I misted it with Biscotti Perfect Pearls Mists to give a gorgeous shimmer. Once the background paper is dry, I stuck it onto the chipboard and added die cut decorative borders down each side, overlapping the edges of the card, which were die cut using a Tim Holtz ~ On The Edge die.

Next I stamped the Mabel Lucie Attwell ~ Can We Keep Him? onto a piece of card, coloured it with alcohol pens and then distressed and aged the edges of the card with Vintage Photo and Antique Linen Distress Ink. 

I then inked up the Music background stamp with black Archival Ink, stamped it onto white card, which I then blended with some more Distress Inks to give an aged feel to the image. I then stuck both images onto my covered chipboard base.

Next, I used the Tim Holtz Tattered Florals die and die cut enough petals to create a dimensional flower. I blended Victorian Velvet Distress Ink over each of the petals and misted them with more of the Biscotti Perfect Pearls Mist, then stamped them with the Music Background stamp. I then built up the flower and adhered the finished flower to the chipboard base, together with some Tattered Leaves die cuts, that I had blended with Peeled Paint Distress Ink.

I then used the Tim Holtz ~ Mover and Shapers, Mini Butterflies from my crafty stash and die cut a couple of butterflies from card which was covered with Tissue Tape and blended the die cuts with some more Victorian Velvet DI. Next, I attached these to the card base and added Adirondack Dimensional Pearls down the centre of each.

Finally, I added an Adage Ticket and attached it to the front of my artwork, using a Trinket Pin from the Idea-ology range before attaching an easel stand to the back of my chipboard base to make it freestanding.

So, that's about it from me for this month and I hope you like what I've made.

Thanks for stopping by to take a look and hope you all have a fabulous inky week.

Emma x

Tick Tock by Alison

Hello Stampers! For my third & final post this month, I have a card to share with you. I have used Perfect Pearls Mists, which are on special offer this month, on The Artistic Stamper website HERE.

For the background, I swiped chipped sapphire distress stains over a square of white card. Then I lightly misted the cog background stamp with forever blue perfect pearls mist, & stamped it on top of the background. I dried it immediately with a heat gun.

I stamped Phineas Pinchbeck & Tick Tock (from the Tick Tock plate), onto a dictionary page, cut them out, inked them with black soot & chipped sapphire distress inks, then matted them on black card. I glued them to the card as shown.

I die cut some Sizzix mini cogs from mountboard, inked them with chipped sapphire distress ink, then triple embossed them with clear UTEE. Whilst the last layer was still molten, I inked the Europe Map background with versamark & stamped the cogs. I trimmed the UTEE around the edges. I added some watch parts & Ideaology to the cogs, & glued them to the card. 

I distressed the edged of my artwork with a paper distresser, inked the edges with black soot distress ink, then glued it to a kraft card blank. To finish, I added more watch parts, & a layer of matt accents to Phineas' clock.

Thanks for looking!

Alison xox

Seeing Spots by Alison

Hello Stampers! It's time for my second post of the month, & I have a tag to share with you. I've used plenty of those yummy Perfect Pearl Mists that The Artistic Stamper has on offer right now.

To start I attached some Claudine Hellmuth sticky back canvas to a piece of card, then I die cut the dress form from the Sizzix Alterations Sewing Room die. I laid the dress form on my craft sheet, in a pizza box, then spritzed it with red pepper colour wash & forever red perfect pearl mist. I mopped up the leftover ink on my craft sheet with a tag. I don't like to waste good ink!

I used jet black archival ink to stamp the dress form with the mini polka dot background. I then stamped the tag with calligraphic mat 15. I applied a thin coat of Studio gesso to the tag, then spritzed it with heirloom gold perfect pearl mist. I distressed the edges of the tag with my paper distresser & inked it with walnut stain distress ink. I also sanded the edges of the dress form & inked them with walnut stain DI.

I stamped the phrase from Tim Holtz's Going Somewhere plate on the top right of the tag, & the sewing woman from the Dressmaking plate slightly off the tag on the bottom right. I stamped the woman again on white card, cut her out, & inked her with vintage photo distress ink, before gluing her to the tag.

I used the Sizzix decorative strip vintage lace die to cut a lace border from card, then painted it with pearl paint dabber, & attached a piece to the hem of the dress form, & a piece to the bottom of the tag. I tied a strip of tulle around the waist of the dress form, added a safety pin, & glued it to the tag.

Finally, I stamped the thimble from the dressmaking plate on some sticky back aluminium, cut it out, and attached it to the tag, together with a couple of buttons & metal poppers.

I hope you like my tag, thanks for looking,
Alison xox

So Red The Rose by Emma

Hi everyone! It's Emma here and I hope you're all having a lovely, inky weekend.

It's already that time of the month for me to share my latest little creation with you and I chose to use a gorgeous Mabel Lucie Attwell image as the main feature of my project, together with lots more goodies from The Artistic Stamper. Also, if you head on over to The Artistic Stamper, this month you can 15% off Perfect Pearls Mists right up until the end of January...

So, here's what I made, all the details of how I did it and lots of close up photos...

To begin with, I made my own shadow box, using two pieces of white cardstock, cut to 15cm x 21cm. I then cut a circle aperture into one of the pieces of cardstock, which will become the front section of the box. Next, I blended Tumbled Glass and Vintage Photo Distress Ink over the front section and then inked up the Dots Background stamp with more Tumbled Glass DI and stamped over the entire front of the box.

I then stamped the Mabel Lucie Attwell "Cut Off Her Head" image from Alice In Wonderland and coloured it in with alcohol pens and Distress Inks. I mounted the finished image, centrally onto the back section of my box and then attached the front section, lining up the two pieces of cardstock and the cut out aperture, to complete my freestanding shadow box.

Next, I die cut some flowers from ivory card using the Tim Holtz's Tattered Florals Die. You will need enough petals to make three complete dimensional roses. I blended Fired Brick Distress Ink over some of the petals and left the petals that I will use for the third flower, ivory. I then used Forever Red Perfect Pearls Mists and sprayed all the petals with the mist, just like the Queen did in the story of Alice In Wonderland. I dried them all with a heat tool, before assembling each of the petal sections to give two completed red roses and one rose, that is half sprayed.

Next, I die cut the Tim Holtz Movers and Shapers, Mini Leaf and Branch and blended Gathered Twigs and Iced Spruce Distress Ink over them. I then arranged the dimensional roses, together with the leaves and twigs onto the front section of my box. Finally, you probably all had a small pack of playing cards in one of your crackers at Christmas...so, I used three cards from one of those packs and attached them to my shadow box.

So, I hope you like my creation and thank you so much for taking the time to come and have a look at what I made.

See you soon and hope you have a lovely creative week!

Emma x

Happy New Year by Emma

Hi everyone!

Hope you all had a lovely Christmas and you're now looking forward to celebrating New Year's Eve and the start of 2012!! 

Once again, time has flown by and I can't believe that it's already my turn to show you my final piece of this month, featuring the FREE stamps that you get with every order that you place at The Artistic Stamper right up until the end of December.

I've included lots of close up photos of my tag, to show every little detail and I really hope you like it.

To begin with I stamped the Mabel Lucie Attwell "Scamp" onto a piece of white card, coloured it with alcohol pens and cut this image out. I then blended Tumbled Glass and Antique Linen Distress Ink over my tag, inked up the FREE snowflakes stamp with Tumbled Glass and stamped the snowflakes onto the top section of my tag.

Next, I die cut the Tim Holtz's Bigz Holiday Lampost from Grungeboard and blended Gathered Twigs, Aged Mahogany and Black Soot over the die cut piece. I then used Wild Honey DI to create the light effect and covered it with Glossy Accents. I stuck this to my tag and added some "snow" onto the lampost using the Snow Cap Acrylic Paint Dabber. I then stuck my little coloured image of "Scamp" onto the tag, at the bottom of the lampost.

I used the Tim Holtz Mini Rosettes die and some paper from my stash to make my rosette stack. Typed out a Happy New Year message and used a circle punch to punch it out. Next, I added the message to a bottle top and covered it with Glossy Accents before attaching it to the top of my stack.

I inked up the ticket stamp from the Tim Holtz ~ Odds and Ends stamp set with black Archival ink, stamped it onto white card and then die cut the "2012", using Tim's Decorative Strip Vintage Market die. I blended Fired Brick Distress Ink over the numbers and added Glossy Accents to the top. I then stuck the numbers onto my ticket using 3D foam and attached it to my tag with an Idea-ology Memo Pin.

As the finishing touch, I added some seam binding which I tie dyed using some Tumbled Glass Distress Stain.

So, that's about it for this post, and for this year!!

I hope you all have a wonderful, healthy 2012 and I wish you all a very Happy New Year. Thank you so much for stopping by to leave your lovely comments on all the pieces I've made since joining the team ~ I really appreciate it!

See you in 2012...

Emma x

Merry Christmas by Emma

Hi everyone!

Can you believe that it's only a week to go until Christmas?? Where did this year go and where has this month gone? It's already time for me to show you my second project of the month using one of the fab FREE stamps that you get if you place an order at The Artistic Stamper during December.

So, here's what I created ~ a Shadow Box Christmas card featuring another of the adorable images of Mabel Lucie Atwell ~ I hope you like it.

...and here's how I made it ~ I've included lots of close up photos to show you all the detail!

To begin with I stamped the Mabel Lucie Attwell ~ Ah! There You Are (large) image onto a small piece of white card, coloured it in and then cut around the outline of the image.

Next, I made my own shadow box from white cardstock and blended Weathered Wood and Antique Linen Distress Ink over the frame of the box to give some colour.

To create the moonlit background of my shadow box card, I used a piece of 10cm square white card and blended some Tumbled Glass DI over it, masking off a small circle where I want the moon to be. i then removed the 'moon mask' and blended some Antique Linen DI over the area where the mask was. Ink up the snowflakes stamp and stamp the flakes over the background. You can just about see the snowflakes in the photo, but they are much clearer in the flesh.

I then cut a piece of acetate, embossed it using the Tim Holtz Snowflake Flurries Texture Fade and placed it over the stamped snowflake background, adhering it in place, inside the frame. 

Next, using Tim Holtz's Decorative Strip die, I die cut the Festive Greenery from various colours of Ranger Distress Core'dinations paper stack, sandpapered each piece and then arranged and stuck them to the base of my shadow card, together with the stamped and coloured Mabel Lucie Attwell image, which now stands in the foreground of the card, to give a three dimensional look.

I then die cut some snowflakes from white textured card, using the Movers and Shapers Mini Snowflakes die, arranged these around the edge of the frame and stuck them into place. I next used some black Archival ink to ink up the "Merry Christmas" wording from the Tim Holtz Winter Sketchbook stamp set and stamped this onto cream card, mounted it on a piece of Core'dinations from the paper stack and then stuck it to the top of my shadow box card. As the final touch, I squidged some Rock Candy Distress Stickles over all the Festive Greenery die cut pieces.

So, that's about it for this creation and I won't be posting again this side of Christmas...so, I'd just like to wish everyone a wonderful Christmas and thank you for all your comments since I joined The Artistic Stamper Creative Team. It's been lovely reading each and every one of them and I really do appreciate them all.

Bye for now and happy creating. 

Emma x

Find Your Wings & Fly

Hi all,
Kat here with my 3rd & final project for the month,
The focus this month is still on the very fab distress stains
on offer in the shop for this month only,

So straight onto my creation,
(love the size of these tags)

To start,

I squeezed the distress stains

onto my craft mat, then spritzed them with water

smooched my tag into the puddle

(this technique is called wrinkle free distress)

turned it over & dyed with a heat gun,

I continued to do this until I was happy with the background,

I then went round the tag with

gathered twig limited addition Distress Ink

next I added the stamps

I used mini polka dots & sequin waste open

backgrounds with plum & maroon archival inks

I finished by adding a few swirls from the

swirls, splats & dots A5 plate

with pale ochre archival inks

With the background done,

it's on to the embellishing part,

I cut the cage from the caged bird die

using craft metal & embossed it with an

embossing folder,

next I stamped the leaves on to the metal

with black stazon & cut them out.

I then cut the bird from (caged bird die)

& the flowers from (tattered florals die)

with book pages glued to scraps of card,

I edged them with Victorian velvet Distress Ink

& added some snaps to the centres,

I shaped all the pieces

glued them down with silicone glue,

to finish I added a sentiment on to a scrap of card

& coloured it to match,

I added some fibers through the hole at the top,

& there you have it, another XL tag, done

Hope you like It!

Have a great day, until next time,

Kat x.