A HOUSE IS JUST A HOUSE by Kat

Hello, Hello, Hello, Kat here,
well the sun is shining (a rarity lately) but it makes me feel happy,
I'm here with another frame to share with you today,

as you can see it's in the same style as the frame

I made at the beginning of the month

I'm sorry I can't help myself,

I'm still so excited about the houses being turned into stamps

but this time I had my new bunting to go with them,

all though the bunting is designed to go with the houses,

It is a stand alone set as well

(I hope to make some samples soon to show this)

I just need more hours in the day, lol

the frame was painted with black acrylic paint

& aged with a bit of inka gold in antique silver,

the images are from my stamp sets HERE

I have my own button on the website entitled

kat's creations how cool is that

& now it has the bunting in there too!

every thing is stamped with Jet black archival ink

& coloured with a verity of Distress Inks

I used the stipple background 

to give a bit of texture to the sky.

for the bunting I stamped it onto scrap card &

left a piece at the top when I cut it out

 to fold over the wire & glue it to the back of itself

that way you can add the bunting flags to any 

wire, string, fibres etc,

as this is covered wire it was so easy to form it

into the shape I wanted & I twisted the ends around a pen

to get the twirly bits.

(I hope that makes sense)

that's about it from me today,

thanks for looking at this post,

Kat x.

Moon Woman by Alison

Hello Stampers. Today I have an art doll pendant to share with you.

Here's how I made her...

Moon Woman's body is made from a Chipboard Jar. I painted both sides with Black Acrylic Paint, then embossed the front with 3 layers of black ultra thick embossing enamel. I inked the Karantha Spiral Texture Stamp with Versamark embossing ink, then stamped into the last layer of black UTEE whilst it was still molten. I rubbed Lava Green Inka Gold onto the raised texture to highlight the design.

To make the face, I melted black UTEE in my Melt Pot, then poured it into the Karantha large Round Face Mould. Once it was set, I popped it out, then painted it with Watermelon Paint Dabber. When the paint was dry, I highlighted the design by rubbing the Lava Green Inka Gold on it. I glued the face to a large Ideaology Timepiece, then glued this to the top of the jar body.

I took 2 medium & 1 small Chipboard flowers, painted them with Watermelon Dabber, then stamped a Script Background with Black Archival Ink. I triple embossed the flowers with Clear UTEE, then stamped with the Karantha Spiral Texture stamp whilst the last layer was still molten. Again, I highlighted the texture with the Inka Gold. To make the 'wings', I cut 3 petals off the medium flowers, & glued the flowers to the back of the jar body. I layered the small flower with a Sprocket Gear & a pink gem brad, then glued it to the front of the body.

I punched 2 holes at the bottom of the body, with a Cropadile, then glued 2 large eyelets into them. I dabbed Watermelon Paint onto the Ideaology Word Sticks, rubbed most of it off, leaving the paint inside the words, then attached the 'legs' with Jump Rings.

I attached a bale to the back of Moon Woman, & added some Link Chain & a large Swivel Clasp. I coloured a Pearl Bauble with Watermelon Alcohol Ink, & attached it to the end of the chain as a finishing touch.

I hope you like my Moon Woman Art Doll, & it inspires you to make one of your own. It was great fun to make!

Thanks for looking,

Alison xox

Friendly Plastic Frame by Alison

Happy Easter Stampers!

I adore friendly plastic, & today I have a little frame to share with you.

Friendly plastic comes in strips, measuring 7 x 1.5 inches, & I used almost one strip for my frame. To start, I cut a piece of black fun foam, about 1.5 x 1.75 inches, then cut two 2 inch pieces from my friendly plastic strip. I laid one piece on my craft sheet, then cut half an inch lengthways from the other piece, & laid it next to the other on the sheet. I heated it with a heat tool until it had a cracked surface, & the two pieces were melted together. Then I pushed the black foam piece into the centre. Wet your fingers with cold water & mould the friendly plastic around the foam. Be careful, as it will be quite hot to touch. Before it cooled, I wet the tip of an embossing tool, & added some dots around the edge.

Next, I took the leftover 2 x 1 inch friendly plastic piece, laid it next to another 2 x 1 inch piece, & added a 2 x 0.25 inch piece at the bottom. Once this was melted together, it was 2.25 x 2 inches. Whilst it was molten, I laid 2 filigree metal squares to the top & bottom, then pushed the first friendly plastic frame into it. Before it cooled, I wet a Ten Second Studio Wheel Tool, & used it to add texture to the edges.

I stamped one of the statues from the Architecture 3 Plate, inked it with vintage photo distress ink, then cut it  to fit inside the frame. I only used part of the image. I added more colour by painting with blue & orange Inka Gold. I glued the image inside the frame with glossy accents, then once it was set, added a layer of glossy accents over the top.

Once the glossy accents layer was set, I added blue Inka Gold accents to the highlight the texture on the edges, then I filled the little dots on the inner frame with blue stickles.

Sorry about my long-winded instructions this week, I hope they have made sense & encouraged you to try out friendly plastic, if you haven't before!

Thanks for looking, enjoy your chocolate eggs!

Alison xox

FREE AS A BIRD TAG

Hi all,
Kat here,
I'm here today with my third & final piece for the month,
the design team focus is on Tissue Tape
I got so involved with playing with the distress stains
I forgot to take any step by step pictures, so I will talk you through the proses.
Here's my tag,

I started by gluing torn bits of book page to the tag with

Matte Medium & brushing the medium randomly

over the whole tag to create a resist,

then with pale blue acrylic paint,

splodged onto my craft sheet,

I dipped the Small Cog Stamp into it & stamped it on the tag,

next I took tumbled glass & bundled sage Distress Stains

covered the whole tag & wiped off the excess straight away,

with Jet Black archival ink, I stamped the

Small Cog Stamp & free as a bird stamps onto the tag,

I added a strip of Tissue Tape near the bottom edge,

then took ten seconds studio copper metal & tools,

stamped the cogs & the phrase as shown

to make a couple of embellishments, & stuck them on.

the Tissue Tape bow was made by

pulling some off the roll & twisting it to make a strand,

I arranged it into a bow & tied it with string,

I added it to the top of the tag & glued a

vintage button to the center.

for the bird,

I die cut him, ran him through a cuttle bug

with a texture fade embossing folder,

then inked him up with vintage photo Distress Ink

added an eye with black enamel,

the wing is made with black UTEE

& rubbed over with inka gold

I gave him a crown for his head &

drew a branch for him to sit on.

That's it,

Hope you like him!

see you next month,

have a creative day,

Kat x.

Bling & Baubles By Hels Sheridan

Oooh, I loooove Christmas, all the preparations, the decorations and the fact that I can add as much bling to artwork and get away with it LOL For this piece I have used the brand new Steampunk Bauble stamps - aren't they just F A B!!!




I started with some Gold Nuggest TSS metal - you can any colour you want to to match in with your festive colour theme, which was popped onto black card with Humungo Tape. I stamped the baubles with Black StaZon, giving it a quick zap with a heat gun to set the ink. Next I used a teflon tipped refining tool (TSS) and added little indents all around the cogs inside the baubles and then used a scootchy tool to make a nice edge for each one. These were then covered with Black Dabber, which was wiped off with paper towel whilst still wet - this just ages the metal nicely and the paint sits in the bits you have refined.




The base of the canvas was covered with Terra, which was stamped into using background stamps, heat dried to make it warty and then painted with Traditional Tan, A Dash of Red and Sable Brown Claudine Hellmuth paints. Once these were all dried, I used some Perfect Pearl mists - Heirloom Gold and Forever Red, spritzing and heating to dry them. These added a load of bling which doesn't really show in the pics. Finally, I used my favourite applicator tool (my index finger LOL) and popped some Inka Gold onto the bobbles on the canvas to highlight the contours. I added Idea-ology Ball Chain for the baubles to hang from and a Memo Pin and Charm Clip for the sentiment. Thanks for looking! TTFN

Hels x

Life is a Journey! By Alison Hall

That's certainly true! Hi! Alison here! Thank you Jennie & Hels for giving me my first ever guest designer opportunity! And what fabulous stamps I've had to play with! For my first piece, I chose to use Jennie's wonderful new Inspiration Light Bulbs. I thought they'd make great hot air balloons. And, to carry on the steampunk theme, I used the Cogs Background, and also the Calligraphic mat and the Punk Plaid Background.




Here are the instructions for my frame

1. Paint a Shadowbox with Gesso, then spread Ferro all around the frame of it. Stamp into the wet Ferro with the Cogs Background & the Caligraphic Mat. Make sure you wet your stamps when you do this, and clean them thoroughly straight afterwards.

2. While the box is drying, make the metal inlay. This is a piece of Ten Seconds Studio silver sheet metal, embossed with the TSS Kabuka Mould 7. Age it with Pitch Black Dabber, use Ultramarine Stazon to colour it, then add highlights with Orange Inka Gold.

3. Back to the Shadowbox. Once it is dry, sponge Azure Precious Metal Paint all over it, including the cavity. Add highlights to the stamped areas with Silver PM Paint and Orange Inka Gold. Once the paint is dry,adhere the metal inlay into the cavity, using red line tape.



4. To make the 'balloons' and sentiment embellishments, make a 'tape sandwich' with silver metal, humungo tape & black card. Stamp two of the Blank Lightbulbs, the Punk Plaid Background, & the phrase 'All of Life is a Journey' onto the metal, with Black Stazon.

5. Cut out the two Lightbulbs, then stamp one with the Cogs Background, & the other with the Caligraphic Mat. Use a TSS embossing tool to highlight the detail, then the TSS Micro Diagonal wheel around the edges.



6. Cut two basket shapes from the Punk Plaid Background, then emboss them with the TSS tools. Attach the baskets to the 'balloons' with short lengths of silver wire.

7. Cut out the phrase and emboss the edges of this with the TSS wheel tool. Rub a little of the Orange Inka Gold onto all of the metal embellishments, then curve them all slightly before gluing them to the frame with silicone glue.

8. To finish the frame, add a few pieces of Tim Holtz Ideaology.

I hope you like this piece - and thank you for looking!

Alison

A Box Of Wishes... By Hels Sheridan

Morning Peeps... I have been getting very messy with Viva Terra and Ferro, Claudine Hellmuth Studio Paint... some of the bestest background stamps in the world *said in a Jeremy Clarkson voice LOL*...ever! Oh and some other bits and bobs... UTEE, collage, Rock Candy, found bits from my stash... tis all here in this little recessed frame box... *BTW, if the words are blue it means that these are linky's to the website where you can buy the stash :O))*




I love these shadow boxes and have altered several so far but this one was extra special as it was for my pal Lori in America... we did an art exchange and I wanted to make something a bit special... instead she got this ROFL.. only joking... she has received it now and I know she loves it... that is a bonus for a start. Anyways... I started by coating the box frame with Claudine Hellmuth Studio Gesso - just a thin layer applied with Cut & Dry foam does the trick. Once dried, I used a spatula and popped a layer of Viva Terra Sahara on in patches... I wetted background stamps (list to follow of ones used) using a Rub It, Scrub It pad... then stamped into the Terra. I then used a heat gun to dry the Terra... this makes it bubble and go warty... love this stuff! Next I used some Ferro, applying this with a spatula and using the background stamps and Rub It, Scrub It again.. the good thing about this pad is that it cleans off the texture paste from your stamps too... *and - little tip... inky fingers? Pop a smidge of handwash onto the pad, wet it, rub fingertips on it... removes the inky bits.. well, most of them LOL* Anyways... I had left blank patches on the frame on purpose... because once I had painted the whole lot with Claudine's Traditional Tan paint, allowed it to dry etc, then added some Sable Brown, then a bit of Charcoal Black to add definition, I splodged a very generous layer of Rock Candy Crackle onto the plain bits. Once this had crackled, I used my very expensive applicator tool (otherwise known as my finger LOL) to add some Viva Inka Gold... in gold colour... this stuff... has to be one of the bestest products ever... I have used it delicately (or as delicately as you will get from me) to apply smudges of colour... but you can also emboss card in a Texture Fade (or suchlike) and then apply it over the top so the embossed raised bits get coloured... cool huh?




The inside of the box had had the sides painted with Trad Tan... and I added a little piece of paper from the Lost & Found stack (out of stock at the mo but back in soon) and then covered a mini canvas with an old bookpage and added colour to this. The little L is from my stash, as is the little Monopoly doggy... he came from a travel set I got in a pound shop... for... erm... a pound ROFL I heated up some UTEE in my Melt Pot, a lashing of clear and two little puddles of gold... then once it was melted, I inked the coggy stamp with clear embossing ink, poured the UTEE over it in a swirly motion, this means that the UTEE has like an agate look to it... I let this cool and then broke the UTEE into bits and added some gold and black to it to define the cogs. The little heart was made using a mould I had made with Mold n Pour... the other little hearts were made by pouring UTEE in a swirly motion again onto a craft sheet and then popping cookie cutters into the still molten UTEE. Finally, the little embellie in the recess... is a clock stamped onto Gold Nugget TSS Metal... scootched around the edges and I have a cookie cutter which is almost the right size... so I popped a bit of clear emb. ink around the rim to act as a release, set this over the metal piece, then poured the UTEE into the cookie cutter... not too much otherwise it would be too thick... *bit like me LOL* To embellish, I added Idea-ololgy - the Ornate Plate has an Adage Ticket in it, which was then filled with Rock Candy Cracklepaint.




So there you go... how I made it... do you like it? Oh and yes, the list of background stamps... I have to say... the Cogs and Sequin Waste are my faves but .. then I love the Punk Plaid... and the Dotty one is a must have too! Thanks for looking... have a goodly day... TTFN

Hels x

On The Bottle...

... I got my new stamps this morning so had to have a little play with them... the bottle stamp is just FAB isn't it? It comes plain and SteamPunky too :O))




I altered a wooden frame, painting it with Traditional Tan paint, covering this with Rock Candy Cracklepaint and then using Mini Misters with Perfect Pearls and Re-inkers mixed with water, to make a colouration for the background... The bottle was stamped onto a piece of mountboard, coloured with Tumbled Glass and then painted with Rock Candy Crackle. Once this had dried, I smudged some Inka Gold over the top of the crackles to make them look...erm.. more crackled!




The flowers are made from Flower Power, Flower Fever and the new Flower Blooms plates, stamped onto Grungepaper and coloured with Distress Inks, then I used some backgrounds to overstamp a pattern onto them. They were then all curled up and stuck together with some little strips of Grungepaper behind them to make stems.. then popped into the bottle.




The centre was made using card, Distress Inks and a couple of Tim Holtz collection stamps... and then I added some Glossy Accents to highlight words... finally, I added a little golden chain (from a Jamboree Bag) and stamped some of Tim's butterflies onto Grungepaper, added Enamel Accents for the bodies and popped them onto the frame. Oh and then colour I used for the butterflies is Broken China. Thanks for looking... have you had chance to play at the Something Old, Something New challenge yet??? It is open til August 31st and there is some delish Candy up for grabs too! TTFN

Hels x

Proudly Presenting...

... the brand new Artistic Stamper Creative Team Blog. AND... the new Monthly Challenge, which for August has been chosen by Minxy. I am so excited... we have been working really hard recently to bring you brand new innovative stamp designs - which will be available from The Artistic Stamper to buy today.




The monthly challenge is open to everyone and one lucky randomly picked winner will win some Candy! The theme for August is Something Old, Something New. To join in is easy-peasy... first of all, become a follower of this blog... and then all you need to do is make a piece of art incorporating the theme, once you have blogged it (or if you haven't got a blog you can link to the place you are showing it; flickr/Photobucket etc) then pop back here, leave us a comment and add your link to the linky gadget at the end of the post. There is a special extra too... if you use any Artistic Stamper stamps on your entry then you will be entered in to the draw twice. The prize for this month is £15 worth of stamps of your choice from The Artistic Stamper new range of stamps... along with the Kling On to mount them onto.





For my entry I used a fabby box frame, painted it with Traditional Tan (yes, even over here I am still addicted to the stuff LOL) I used Viva Terra applied in patches which was stamped into using the new Punk Plaid stamp and the old Sequin Waste stamp *see what I did there, new and old ;O))* I then painted some Sable Brown Studio range paint over the whole piece, removing some of it with a babywipe so it left patches of the Traditional Tan showing through. I used some Viva Ferro, which I also stamped with the Punk Plaid stamp and then heat dried it all.




The places on the frame that were then not textured had a generous dollop of Rock Candy Cracklepaint applied... once this was dried I used some gold Dabber to add colour to the textured parts, added some black paint with a piece of Cut & Dry foam... this just emphasised the bobbles and pits on the texture... and finally smooshed some Inka Gold over the whole lot to make it more...erm... golden!




The centre was filled with a piece of paper from the Vintage Shabby stack, I added a mini canvas which had had the Terra treatment... and the Cog stamp pressed into it. This again was heat dried... if you heat dry Terra you get a lovely warty kind of texture to the piece. I used one of the clocks and one of the cogs from the Tick Tock plate, stamping onto metal and then popping a cookie cutter over the top and pouring in melted clear UTEE. I also used the Melt Pot to make some little hearts, adding Gold UTEE in blobs to the clear UTEE and then pouring it in a swirly manner onto the craft sheet... then popping the heart shaped cookie cutters into it. **do you see the little iron on top of the ART??? This is my really OLD part... cos it is... any old iron... ROFL... ah, just me then!!**



Finally, I added a few bits of ephemera - old watch faces etc and Idea-ology and some little Letterpress letters from my own hoard. I hope you like this piece and can't wait to see what you come up with... remember, the challenge is open for a whole month, the more times you enter, the more times you will be in with a chance of winning the candy... don't forget to click to follow this blog too...and... I would really appreciate your comments...what do you think of the new blog? What do you think of the layout etc of it and... do you like it!? :O)) TTFN

Hels x