Art is Nature Notebook

Hello again,

I always like to have a notebook by my side, don't you? Otherwise, where would we write down our Stash Wishlist! I also think that if you decorate them yourself, they make useful little gifts for crafty buddies.

When I spotted this acrylic covered notepad in my local pound store, it immediately made me think of the possibilities with alcohol inks. I've been a bit techniquey today because I thought I would experiment and see how it would work if I stamped my design with StazOn on one side, and then used alcohol inks on the other, and then bleached out the alcohol ink on the leaves, and filled them back in with colour. You could use either Cut 'N Dry Nibs dipped in Alcohol Ink Blending Solution to remove the colour, or one of the Ranger Fillable Pens, then put the colour back in by using green alcohol ink to accent the leaves, using the same method. Using the reverse of the acrylic means you don't have to worry about the StazOn bleeding. This particular notebook had a blank first page, and then lined pages, so if you wanted you could have a double layered design, with some decoration on the front page, showing through the stamped and alcohol inked acrylic cover.

I decided not to use any 3d embellishment because my notebooks take quite a bashing, on my craft table and in my handbag, so I wanted it to be resilient. I added metal photo corners partly to reinforce it, but also to slightly 'frame' my design.

What you will need:-

Art is Nature stamp set
Alcohol Inks Sunset Orange, Red Pepper, Sunshine Yellow, Watermelon, Shell Pink, Lettuce
Alcohol Ink Pen or Cut 'N Dry Nibs
Alcohol Ink Blending Solution, felts, and Applicator Tool
StazOn Jet Black
Fibres

A6 Acrylic Cover Notebook
Metal Photo Corners

How to do it:-

1. Open out the cover and apply the alcohol inks to the reverse: add a couple of drops each of the Orange, Red Pepper, Yellow, Watermelon, and Pink, so that they are not touching each other on the felt applicator pad. Dab, moving the direction of the tool around as you go. Then add a couple of drops of the blending solution to the tool and do the same again. I kept checking by closing the book again so I could see the colours reflected against the white background, until I was happy with the intensity of the colours, so you may want to apply more. Apply colour to the back cover in the same way. I've shown a picture here of the back cover with alcohol inks on and I also took the cover off and popped it through the Cuttlebug Swiss Dots folder, which is another thing you could experiment with!

2. Stamp a selection of the Art is Nature stamps on the front of the acrylic cover as shown, using the Black StazOn.

3. Turn the cover over again so the alcohol inked side is facing you, and use the re-fillable pen filled with blending solution to bleach out the colour of the leaves. Have a piece of scrap paper or tissue by your side and keep cleaning off the tip.

4. Use another re-fillable pen filled with Lettuce to add the colour of the leaves back in.

5. To finish, add metal photo corners and fibres, as shown.

I hope you like this little project. It was a bit of an experiment for me and I felt these bold and striking stamps worked really well. I think it would also work well though, with many of Jennie's other stamps, as I found it was easier than I thought to remove the colour and add it back in to create detail.

Hope you enjoyed it, and thanks for looking!

Lucy

'Create Blooming Art!' Wall Hanging by Lucy Edmondson

Hello, me again!

The Artistic Stamper has these very sturdy little frames in stock, which are ideal for wall hangings. They have a shallow indent in the middle which is perfect for either tiny dominoes or Stampbord pieces. I thought it would be fun to combine it with these very versatile Floral Blooms stamps, which are brand new but which I think I will be reaching for many times!

INGREDIENTS

Floral Blooms Stamp set
Collage Frame 10 x 10 cm
Black Archival Ink
Crafty Notions Mica Spray
Tim Holtz Distress Crackle Paint in Picket Fence
White Inkssentials Pen
Tiny Dominoes
Florist Wire or Thin Ribbon
Permanent Marker Pens
Button
Idea-ology Flower Embellishment
Big Bite or Dremmel
Brilliance Ink Pads or Similar
Strong adhesive tape




INSTRUCTIONS

1. Paint the frame with the Crackle Paint, and when dry spray with Crafty Notions Sprays.

2. Arrange the dominoes so they form a square that fits the centre of the frame, turn over and attach together with the red line tape but don't remove the backing just yet.

3. Turn the dominoes over and sponge with a suitable ink that dries on glossy surfaces, such as Brilliance, and heat set.

4. Stamp the flowers and leaves as shown, overlapping the dominoes. Use the white pen in the centre of the tiny flowers and add some colour with the permanent pens. Add a button to the centre of the largest flower. Remove the backing from the tape and stick in place.

5. Stamp the tiny flowers around the edge of the frame, adding some white pen and permanent marker pen. Stamp the words 'Create Blooming Art' on the bottom edge.

6. Use a Big Bite (thank you very much to my friend Jack for the loan!) to make two hanging holes in the top of the frame and thread with florist wire. To finish, add a metal flower taken from a Primark necklace, which was a wonderful idea of Minxy's!

Thank you for looking!

Lucy

Tissue Technique Tutorial by Lucy Edmondson

Hello again,

I hope you will find today's tutorial helpful. I use the tissue paper technique a lot in my crafting as it is a good way of working with awkward shaped or difficult to stamp on items. I use it mainly with canvas as it gives crisp images whilst still allowing the natural weave of the fabric to show through, but it is also great with papier mache items. You can use a variety of 'gluey' mediums: Claudine Hellmuth Studio Multi Medium, spray adhesive, decoupage glue, Mod Podge, gel medium, or even Klear floor polish! My favourite, which I will use here, is gel matte medium, as I like the matte finish. The main tip, and I will labour the point a bit in my step photos (!) is to use plenty, and spread it evenly, as this is what your tissue will sink into in order to become transparent. The other important point is to use StazOn to stamp on your tissue paper as the wetness of the 'glue' may cause some ink pads to run. However, you can use any colouring medium you wish for the canvas itself - inks, paints, sprays, etc. The colour needs to be vibrant at this stage, as the tissue will mute it a little.

If you haven't used tissue before, do persevere, as it is a great thing to have in your technique arsenal. For this particular project I have decorated a canvas covered sketch book, which would make a great gift as a crafting journal. These are the ingredients that I used:-

Birds of a Feather and Free as a Bird Stamps
Bird Song Elements Stamps
Music Script Stamp
Black StazOn Ink Pad and Colours
Gel Matte Medium by Claudine Hellmuth
Distress Inks or Other Colouring Medium
Tim Holtz Tissue Tape Symphony
Fibres
Cut N Dry Foam and Nibs
Metal Corners

A5 Canvas Sketch book - I get mine from Tesco Extra for about £4.50. Any cheap white tissue paper.

1. Assemble everything you will need.

2. Cut a rectangle of tissue paper to fit the front of your book.

3. Open out the book so you don't get ink on the pages, ink up the canvas cover, using the Cut N Dry nibs to get behind the spiral binding.

4. It will look something like this, with quite strong colours.

5. Start to build up your design on the tissue paper, with the music script top left and bottom right, in Cactus Green StazOn, then the Bird Cages in Jet Black in opposing corners.Work with a piece of white scrap paper underneath to pick up any ink that soaks through so it doesn't transfer, and to make it easier to see your design.

6. Now add the small detailed bird to the large bird cage, the wording, and the larger bird as shown.

7. Fill in any gaps with sequin waste and StazOn in Teal Blue, dabbing lightly as it is a strong colour.

8. Apply plenty of Gel Matte Medium to the book cover.

9. Spread it evenly.

10. Place your tissue paper in position and pat down, pressing any wrinkles with your fingertips then use your heat gun briefly to further iron out wrinkles.

11. Add the music script tissue tape to the bottom.

12. Touch up any areas of white tissue paper (which is where there wasn't quite enough gel medium) using residual ink from your foam, in the relevant colour. Use this to blend the Tissue Tape in as well.

13. Dab a little Teal StazOn onto the metal corners, add these with strong glue, and to finish off, tie some co-ordinating fibres to the spiral rings.

Thanks for looking and I hope you enjoyed my first tutorial here, there are plenty more to come, so please do call back again soon.

Lucy

Gibson and his Girls! by Lucy Edmondson

Charles Dana Gibson was a pen and ink illustrator at the turn of the 20th century whose models epitomized his ideal of female beauty, with long hair, tiny waists, and long slender necks. They became known as the Gibson Girls! I have had the two full size sets for a long time now and they are great favourites, so I was delighted when the tiny images came out last week, and I have combined them with some other old favourites for Minxy's 'Something Old, Something New' challenge. I love the flexibility you get with The Artistic Stamper stamps that enables you to mix and match.

Well, the first bit of the 'pocket Art History' was true, but I now get a bit fanciful so humour me! I decided that Collage Man would be Gibson, standing by the door outside his smart studio, where inside await his models, ready to be sketched. I think in reality he was a bit fatter than this distinguished gent, but if he can dream then so can I!

What you will need:-

Artistic Stamper stamps: Collage Man, Collage Lady Elements, Artist's Plate No 1, Words Set Nudes,
Small but Beautiful Gibson Girls
Distress Inks: Tattered Rose or Spun Sugar, Vintage Photo, Shabby Shutters, Dried Marigold, Tumbled Glass
Distress Crackle Paint - a pale/neutral colour such as Tatteered Rose or Picket Fence, etc
Crafty Notions Spray in Co-Ordinating Colour
2 Hinges
Pen Nib
Black Archival Ink Pad
Inkssentials White Opaque Pen - Optional

Brad or Tiny Button or similar for the door knob

You can get everything you need except the tray from Jennie, but if you don't have anything similar (sometimes embellishments come in them), you might like to use four small matchbox drawers glued together. You will need a small piece of strong card, approx 7.5 cm by 9 cm ( ins).

What I did:-

1. Brush a neutral shade of Crackle Paint around the inner edges of each of the compartments in the tray and set aside to dry.

2. Stamp the Collage Man in black onto the strong card, and cut it into a rectangle to fit your compartment tray (mine was a little smaller than the stamp). Turn it over and stamp the poem from Collage Lady to cover the piece. Sponge both sides with the Distress Inks, using the Tattered Rose or Spun Sugar for Gibson's face, and either leaving the collar bare or filling it in with the white pen. Edge both pieces with Vintage Photo to frame, and flick some water at the pieces with your fingers.

3. Stamp three of the Gibson Girls onto white card, and the ink bottle from the Artist Plate, and cut to fit the compartments then colour as above.

4. Stamp a pen nib from the Artist Plate and the Woman, Mystery, Passion, Beauty words onto white card and ink up. Cut out a continuous strip of words to go around the outside edge of the tray, and cut a rectangle around one of each of the words for the back of the door. Edge with Vintage Photo and stick in position as shown.

5. Once the crackle paint is dry, sponge with Distress Inks and spray with mica sprays. Stick the four tiny images into the compartments and add the pen nib.

6. To finish, stick the hinges in place with strong glue, allowing plenty of drying time. Add a brad head or tiny button as a door knob, as shown.

I do hope you have enjoyed this project and it would be great if you gave it a go! Do tell me what you think as I would love to hear! Thanks for looking.

Lucy

Bathing Belles! By Lucy Edmondson

I hope you will like this little heart shaped album in a heart shaped tin. I love having the aperture so you can see the front page of the album. I have used some gorgeous vintage double sided papers - those were the days, when you didn't have to worry about exposing too much flesh on the beach!

This is what you will need:-

Seaside Plate No 1
Gibson Girls Plate No 2
Distress Inks
White Gesso
Tim Holtz Distress Crackle Paint in Picket Fence
Fibres or Twill

All available from The Artistic Stamper.

You will also need a tin with an aperture - doesn't have to be heart shaped. My tin was red - which was a difficult starting point! I have also used a fish and some shell art moulds, made up with Fimo and Stickles, but you can use real shells or any seaside ephemera, to decorate the top of the tin. I used a selection of the 'On the Boardwalk' Collection of double sided 12 x 12 papers by Graphic 45, but there are such a lot of images on the Seaside Plate that you could use to make your own backgrounds.

I covered the tin with gesso then added Crackle Paint, and sponged on Distress Inks, and sprayed on some shimmer mists. I cut a front and back cover for the album from mountboard, then the pages from the ds paper, doing a bit of jigsawing so I had the images I wanted, where I wanted them. I added a selection of images from the Seaside plate and the Gibson Girls paddling, stamped in Sepia.

I set eyelets in the top left of each heart shaped piece and attached them together with a book ring and some fibres (the twill Jennie sells would work well too):-

Finally, I took one of the die cut border strips from the paper set, which had an index tab on it, and snipped the words 'On the Boardwalk - By the Beautiful Sea' from the name tab at the top of one of the papers, adhered this to the index tab, blended it in with Antique Linen, added brads, and stuck it diagonally across the front of the tin. The words 'Down the Boardwalk She Came' were positioned on the front page to show through the aperture.

Thanks for looking and your comments are greatly appreciated.

Lucy