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

"Holly" by Emma

Hi everyone ~ it's Emma here!

December is whizzing by and it's already time to show you my first project of the month using one of the FREE stamps that you get with any order placed at The Artistic Stamper during December.

So, time to share my decorative Christmas plaque ~ I hope you like it...

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

To begin with I stamped the Mabel Lucie Attwell ~ Holly image onto cream textured card and coloured it in.

Next, I cut to size a 15cm square frame from white card, trimmed the edges to give a decorative effect and then cut an 8cm aperture from the centre. I blended Weathered Wood Distress Ink over the frame and then using the free snowflakes stamp, I stamped all around the edge of the frame with some more Weathered Wood Distress Ink. I then mounted my frame over the top of my stamped Mabel Lucie Attwell image and placed the completed frame onto chipboard, trimming off the excess.

Next, using Tim Holtz's Alterations dies, I die cut the Holly Branch from Grungepaper and the "25" from the Noel die from chipboard. I then blended Evergreen Bough Distress Ink over the holly leaves and Festive Berries on the berries ~ both inks are from the Winter Seasonal DI set. I then used Gathered Twigs on the branch which came in the Autumn Seasonal DI set. Next, I blended Brushed Corduroy Distress Ink over the "25" before covering each number with Picket Fence Crackle Paint.

Once the crackle paint is dry, I assembled each of the Grungepaper die cut elements onto the left hand side of my frame, slightly overlapping the edge. I then placed the "25" on top of the holly branch to give the effect of it being suspended in mid air. I squidged some Rock Candy Distress Stickles over all the die cut pieces.

Next, I punched two holes and placed some eyelets into top corners of the frame using a Crop-a-Dile. I attached some glass beads to the twine and threaded this through the holes to create a hanger. Finally, I added some seam binding as the finishing touch, to complete my decorative wall hanger.

Thanks for stopping by to take a look at what I've made and once again, for taking the time to leave comments on these posts ~ I appreciate all your kind words.

Bye for now and have fun creating.

Emma x

Tick Tock by Emma

Hi everyone!

It's time to show you my final project of November and it's been made using some more fab Distress Stains, which until the end of this month, you can find on offer, here at The Artistic Stamper.

So, time to share my creation and I hope you like it...

...and, here's how I made it!

To begin with I dabbed some Weathered Wood, Broken China and Antique Linen Distress Stain onto my craft mat, misted the stains with water and then applied my 20cm x 9.5cm sized tag over the stains, moving it around slightly to soak up all the colour. When you take the tag away, it leaves you with this gorgeous marbled effect on the background. I then inked up the Sequin Waste Open background stamp with the Weathered Wood Distress Stain and stamped the pattern all over the tag. Next, I inked up the clock face from the Tick Tock stamp plate with black Archival Ink and stamped around the edges, masking off the previous stamped image, each time to create an overlap of clocks as a border to my tag.

I then stamped the Mabel Lucie Attwell - Large White Rabbit image onto a square piece of white card and then stamped the same image again onto a separate piece of white card. I coloured both of the images in with alcohol pens but cut around the outline of the second White Rabbit image, which I will eventually be decoupaging over the top of the base image.

Next, I used some Grungeboard to die cut the Tim Holtz Weathered Clock and then, coloured all the die cut pieces with Weathered Wood Distress Stain. Attach the die cut clock to your base image of the White Rabbit, making sure the rabbit is in the centre of the clock and then trim away any of the excess cardstock. Take the cut out rabbit and layer this directly over the top of your first background image, using 3D foam pads for dimension. Adhere this completed section to your tag.

Using some papers from my crafty stash, I made up a rosette with the Tim Holtz, Decorative Strip Rosette Die and stuck this to the bottom section of my tag. I then stamped another of the large clock faces from the Tick Tock Stamp Sheet onto white card and cut this out. Using the hands of the clock that you've previously die cut from the Grungeboard, attach these with a brad, to the centre of your stamped clock face. I made sure that the hands weren't attached too tightly to the clock face, allowing you to move the hands around, so they will always tell the exact time that you want.

I inked up the "Tick Tock' wording from the Tick Tock stamp sheet with Black Archival Ink and stamped onto cream card, trimmed each of the edges to give a banner shape and then added it to the top of my tag.

As a finishing touch I coloured cream seam binding with some more of the Weathered Wood Distress Stain and tied it into a bow, through the hole in my tag.

So, that's about it from me for this month.

Thank you for taking the time to come and look at my creation and I'll look forward to reading your comments.

Bye for now and happy creating.

Emma x

Imagine by Emma

Hi everyone!

It's time for me to show you my second project of the month and once again, I've used some more of those gorgeous Distress Stains that are on offer here, at The Artistic Stamper, this month.

I chose to make a tag and combined the Distress Stains with another of those adorable Mabel Lucie Attwell stamps.

So how did I make it:

To begin with I dabbed some Peeled Paint and Antique Linen Distress Stain onto my craft mat and then pulled the tag that I made from Manila cardstock, measuring 20cm x 9.5cm, through the inks to give a marbled effect to the background. I then inked up the Dots background stamp with the Peeled Paint Distress Stain and stamped the dots all over the tag.

I then stamped the Mabel Lucie Attwell - Coming Up Daisies image onto white card and coloured it in with alcohol pens. I matted the image onto a piece of black card and adhered it to my tag.

Next, I die cut some petals from cream card, using the Tim Holtz Tattered Florals die and using the same technique as I used for the background, I dabbed some Spiced Marmalade Distress Stain onto my craft mat and then dragged the plain cream die cuts through to give them colour. I then overstamped some of the petals using one of the Calligraphic Mat Background stamps, before then making all the coloured die cut petals into two 3D flowers. Next, I dipped the completed flowers into UTEE which was melted in the Melt Pot and once you've covered all the petals in the UTEE, it leaves you with this lovely enameled look.

Using some papers from my crafty stash, I made up two rosettes with the Tim Holtz Mini Rosettes Die and stacked them on top of one another. I then used an old beer bottle top, punched out a circle from some paper off cuts and stuck this in the centre of the bottle top, using a dab of Glossy Accents. I then covered the entire area of the inside of the bottle top, with some more Glossy Accents and set aside to dry completely before adding it to the top of my rosette stack.

To complete my tag creation, I arranged all the elements that I've made and clustered them all at the bottom of my tag. I inked up the "Imagine" stamp with Black Archival Ink and stamped onto cream card before adding this to the bottom of my tag. As a finishing touch I added one of Tim Holtz's die cut flourishes, together with some seam binding.

I hope you like what I've made and as always, I look forward to reading each, and every one of your comments.

Thank you for taking the time to look.

Bye for now and happy creating.

Emma x

Sweet Dreams by Emma Williams

Hello everyone!

It's Emma here, and I'm back with my first post of November and this time I've chosen to make a twisted easel card, featuring another of those gorgeous Mabel Lucie Attwell stamps, together with an inky background made using the fab Distress Stains which are currently on offer this month over at The Artistic Stamper.

So here's how I made it..

I stamped the Mabel Lucie Attwell image onto mount board, coloured it in and inked the edges with Antique Linen Distress Ink. I then applied a generous amount of Versamark all over the image, covered with UTEE and heated it until it becomes molten and glossy.

To make the card base, I took a square pre-scored card, scored diagonally from corner to corner, across the front of the card blank and folded to give my basic easel shape card. Next, I inked up the Dots Background stamp with Versamark, stamped onto white card and embossed with clear embossing powder. Next, I got inky with the Distress Stains and randomly applied, Wild Honey, Weathered Wood and Antique Linen, all over the embossed piece of card ~ where you've previously embossed with the clear embossing powder, this will act as a resist and those little dots will just pop out.

I matted this onto black card and attached to the diagonal fold on the card blank. Next, using the same colours of Distress Stains as before, I once again, randomly applied them all over another piece of white card card and then stamped this background with the "splat" from the Swirls, Dots and Splats stamp and the Ink Blot Background. Attach this piece of card to the base of the card blank, trimming off the excess.

Using Tim Holtz's Tattered Florals Alterations die, I made a handmade 3D flower, coloured with Tumbled Glass Distress Ink and spritzed with Turquoise Perfect Pearls Mists, I then attached this to the upright section of my card base, together with my enameled Mabel Lucie Attwell artwork and some seam binding.

I printed out "Time For Bed", adhered the words to a piece of card and attached it to the front of my card using a Tim Holtz Memo Pin. I finally made up two rosettes from some paper in my crafty stash, using Tim's Mini Rosette Strip Die and added these to the base of the card, together with the "Sweet Dreams" sentiment which I printed out on the computer.

So that's about it and I really hope you like my card!

I'll be back later in the month with another project. Thank you for taking the time to come and look at my work and for leaving all your lovely comments.

See you soon and happy creating!

Emma x

A Little Distressed by Tina Barnett

Hi Gang!

It's Tina here. I have made a card using the wonderful Mabel Lucie Attwell stamp "Natures little helper". How cute!!!



I started with an 8 inch by 8 inch card and used some beautiful swirl stamps by The Artistic Stamper . I used Tim Holtz distress inks to stamp them.

I then went over the card with .............. and I just have to say fabulous .... Distress ink dabbers It gave a beautiful background effect.


I used a darker ink dabber around the edge of the card. Where I had stamped the sentiment, which is an Artistic stamper stamp I then over stamped it used the darker ink dabber.


The main Mabel Lucie Attwell stamp has been coloured using Tim Holtz distress inks and edged in the same dark ink dabber.


I embossed some Coredinations card stock and went over that with the distress ink dabbers.

I then finished off with some ribbon from my stash.

Hope you like the results.

See you soon xx Tina xx

Deep In Thought...

Hello everyone! 

It's Emma here, and I'm back with my final share of this month, using one of the gorgeous Mabel Lucie Attwell stamps...I hope you like it!

For this card, I chose to use "Pen and Ink" which I think one of my favourite stamps from the Mabel Lucie Attwell range and I used it in conjunction with the background stamps that still have a 25% discount until the end of the month.

Here's how I made this card:

Stamp the Mabel Lucie Attwell image in the corner of a piece of cream card and then stamp the image again onto a "Post It Note". Cut out this second image and use it as a mask, placing it directly over the image that was stamped onto the cream card.

Ink up the large Notebook Background stamp in Fired Brick Distress Ink and place the stamp onto the cream card, making sure that the Mabel Lucie Attwell image is in the bottom right hand corner. Remove the mask and colour the image in before trimming the stamped card, to size and punching out the holes in the side margin.

Ink up the "ink splat" from the Swirls, Splats and Dots A5 set with Old Paper Distress Ink and stamp onto the cream card. Use some more of the Old Paper DI around the edges of the cream card, then using Black Archival Ink and the "Creative Art Thoughts" journalling stamp, stamp directly onto the main image.

I distressed and tore some polka dot background paper that I had in my craft room, layered it over some Core'dinations cardstock and adhered this to a card blank. As finishing touches, I added buttons, decorative pins and vintage ribbon from my crafty stash and finally added one of Tim Holtz's Elegant Flourishes from Sizzix.

Thank you for taking a look at my little creation and I'll see you again soon!

Have a wonderful creative weekend!

Love Emma x

What can we do with our stamps?... by Tina Barnett

Hi Crafters!

It's Tina here. I thought I would try something different with my stamps. What better then a Christmas decoration!!! Yes I said it! CHRISTMAS!!!!

I have used a wonderful Christmas stamp from The Mabel Lucie Attwell range by The Artistic Stamper. She is called Holly.

I started off with a wooden heart shape and painted over it with acrylic gold paint. Next I stamped Holly using Stazon ink . I coloured the stamp with twinkle H2O's, but you could use any medium you liked.

I then stamped the back of the heart with an Artistic Stamper background stamp. I love the dots!!!

I then completed the decoration with web thread to hang it up and some gems.

I really loved doing something different. Hope you enjoyed looking!

Bye for now

Tina xx