Feeling Blue...?

Good Morning to both you and the weekend...
and hopefully a little off-duty time for some and oodles of crafty dabblings too! Sarah here with my second make of the month. Today I'm feeling rather blue and girly but all in a good painty, inky way. I make no secret of being an ATC fan, especially when they're funky and chunky!

I cut a chunk of wood from an old beam that was lurking in the shed. It's the three dimensional model of your standard ATC (2½ x 3½ inches, but 1½ inches deep). I started with a couple of coats of paint with my Cloudy Blue Dabber and then cut a cardboard frame for the front which I swiped with Snow Cap before stamping some yummy Polka Dots.

I lined the frame with Mr.Tim Ball Chain and inked up some Grungeboard Letters with pigment ink. I chose the word 'Fleur', because somehow French sounds so much nicer!

I painted some Grungepaper in Snowcap and then stamped the really great flowers and leaves from Flower Power and Flower Blooms.

I love cutting weeny things out so I had a ball with those leaves! Plus it means you can create more movement and shape with them.

I layered up the flowers, added a brass stud and made a triple one for the top finishing off with an old ceramic drawer knob!

On the back, more yummy dots, leaves and three pretty mini flowers. Just too cute! I don't often say cute, but these just are! I played around with the words from Flower Blooms by stamping them onto painted card and splitting them up. Oooh, so many places to play with...

I think chunky ATCs make great gifts because you can put so much in to them but they're just the right size too... They'll happily perch on a shelf or in a cabinet.  

Are you stamper or cardmaker wanting to venture into mixed media but feeling a bit daunted by the thought? Well, this could be the perfect project to help you make that step, whilst still taking all your other skills along.

On the sides, I kept things fairly simple but still wanted to add a little extra detail with some seam binding, vintage buttons and another flower. I don't mind seeing the lumps, bumps and cracks in the wood - all part of the natural look!  On this side some more wordplay and chain. Finally, (fanfare) the whole ATC is mounted on four metal corner thingies also painted blue!
So, that's all folks, as they say. Hope you like it and will maybe give it a go yourself. Thanks for looking and Happy Weekending! Sarah.

Blue Denim Note Book by Kat

Hi all,
Kat here, with my 3rd & final project of the month,

Apologies for the rubbish post names,
I never know what to call them,
so I usually just write what I see (lol)

with core'dinations card stock as our focus
it seemed only natural to make a note book.
so here it is,

I started of with 2 pieces of grey board cut to size

I then cut the core'dinations card stock in 2 different blues

slightly larger, so if it shrank when it was embossing

it wouldn't be to small.

I then embossed with the same design,

but by turning the card pieces over

you get an embossed & debossed pattern,

I then sanded it with Tim's sanding grip

here's the difference in the patterns.

I then glued them with

Claudine Hellmuth multi matte medium

I glued a silver strip over the join

& added another sanded strip of the darker blue core card

I trimmed it all back with a craft knife,

I glued the silver paper to the inside of the covers

& trimmed it back,

then cut the holes with the bind it all machine.

for the pages I cut them a couple of mm smaller than the covers,

I didn't count them (just made a small wedge)

then with a scrap of card slightly smaller than the page

for a mask & a

blending tool I blended faded jeans Distress Ink

then added the texture with Stipple background stamp

& faded jeans Distress Ink

I added the small flower chain off the flower blooms set

coloured with a copic marker.

punched the holes with the bind it all

& put it all together with half inch 0 ring.

I made the flower from the same stamp set

(flower blooms set) stamped in Jet Black archival ink

& blended with Weatherd wood & Faded Jeans Distress Inks

I glued a button in the center & added some leaves

cut from a sizzix die & the same core'dinations card stock

& glued it to the cover.

here's the stamps I used,

& there you have it,

Jobs a good-en

Hope you like it!

have a creative day,

Kat x.

Sing A Rainbow... A New Challenge!

Morning Peeps... wow, what a first month we had and I would like to say a HUGE thank you for all your lovely comments, entries to the challenge and support! The winner for the August challenge will be announced on Friday (Sept 3rd) so please be sure to check back. In the meantime, I have a brand new theme for September's challenge... which is ... RAINBOWS. So, you can use rainbow images or colours... to enter, all you have to do is make a piece of art, add in the theme and if you use Artistic Stamper stamps on your piece, your name is automatically entered twice into the draw... which means you could win £15 worth of Artistic Stamper stamps plus Kling-On to mount them onto.

For my entry I made a couple of cards using Alcohol Inks and Glossy Cardstock.

Card 1


Using the colours of the rainbow in Alcohol Inks - I always remember the order with the old saying... Richard Of York Gave Battle In Vain... so I used Red Pepper, Sunset Orange, Sunshine Yellow, Clover Green, Sail Boat Blue, Cool Peri and Purple Twilight Alcohol Inks. I started by drawing a line of ink onto the applicator tool felt, going through the spectrum so I had a pad full of lines - make sure not to get the lines touching each other too much otherwise the colours will muddy - then I dragged the tool across the glossy card in a sweeping movement, so the lines transferred to the card, repeating this until the card was covered in stripes, then I turned the card around and did the same again so I made a plaid effect background.




I then made some more coloured glossy card, this time by dropping ... erm, drops of ink onto the card, then blasting the inkspots with air from an aircan - you know the type that you can get to clean out nooks and crannies on your keyboard? Well, these are FAB for giving an inksplat look. Once this card was covered, I stamped the birdcage - from the Free As A Bird set onto it in Black Archival ink. A tip when using Archival on glossy card - heat dry it otherwise fingers smudge the image :O)) I cut out the birdcage and then made a collage on the plaid background using more of the birdy stamps.I added a piece of ribbon and stamped the little wren onto more of the splatty card, cutting him out and popping him onto silicone glue so he stands proud. The finishing touch was adding a little Idea-ology birdy on a jump ring.



CARD 2



Is a diddy card... using the same principal of making a stripey background, but this time keeping it stripey... I stamped a mini sentiment from Tim Holtz collection and then added a border - with more Tim stamping on it... again in Archival ink.I stamped two of the Flower Blooms flowers onto offcuts of the stripey card and layered them together with a Prima gem in the middle.



The birdies in the background are from the Birds of a Feather set and are stamped again in Archival and then I just dragged the inkpad around the edge of the card to finish it all off.

So, if you fancy a challenge and want to join in, please add your name and pic to the linky below - the challenge will be open until September 30th - and the winner announced shortly afterwards. Also, please can you leave a comment when you add your linky entry please? That way I can make sure I don't miss visiting you :O)) Thanks for looking... have a goodly day...

Hels x