Time for goodbyes, and welcome to 2012!

I hate goodbyes, (au revoir is so much nicer) so, as 2011 draws to a close, The Artistic Stamper Creative Team is saying au revoir to Hels.
 I first encountered Hels about 4 years ago when I joined a forum, and came across her work on her blog. This inspired me to start my own blog ( who'd have thought that blogging would become so big !) , and I in turn asked her to create some artwork for us here at The Artistic Stamper. The rest they say is history!
 Hels has been my Creative Co-ordinator for the past 4 years, and I will miss her , not only for her creative artwork, inspiration and ideas, but for her "behind the scenes" help, whenever I have needed it. She has organised all the Creativity that you see on the blog ,  even designing her own stamps..namely Stitchels, as well as creating her own artwork for her blog.  Thank you for the past four years, it has been fun. We wish you all the best for the future.

 We also said au revoir to Nicky ( aka Minxy) who has always made me smile with her innovative artwork. Nicky has been with The Artistic Stamper for about 3 years , and will be missed for her gorgeous innovative artwork, and her inspiration using our stamps.

Finally Tina has decided to leave the team, and her artwork using Mabel Lucie Attwell has never failed to inspire!

We wish you the best for the coming year, may 2012 be bright, and fun filled, and full of Creativity!

Happy New Year! See you in 2012!
Jennie

Not my usual! by Nicky Cresswell

Good day to you fine stampers, I am back again but this time with something a little different. 

Now It's taken me a little while but I am finally getting into the whole journaling thing.

So when Jennie shared that she was launching new journaling stamps I was over the moon and couldn't wait to get my inky mits on them.

And this is what i came up with.

 I started with an uneven coat of traditional tan claudine hellmuth studio paint, once dry I washed over a coat of broken glass distress stain. I then added a smidge of picket fence distress stain just running across the center of the page. 

I stamped the 3 circles from the swirls, splats and dots plate across the center in black archival ink, and edged the whole page using one of the splats from the same page.

I finished with the words Happy which was taken from the Journaling words plate and the Creative with is from the massive create art thought phrase {but I cut them as separate words as there such a nice size they can work on there own} As one last finishing touch I gave a couple of the circles a mini crown which I punched out of black soot core'dinations card {which is still on offer HERE}

And there you have it.

So don't be afraid any more, Get out your inks and paint and stamps and just have fun. 

If I can do it you can too.

Thanks for stopping by x

Stay Inky

The Fabric Of Time! by Nicky Cresswell

Morning peeps

Today I have a fun little project for you to try..

All your gonna need is some plain fabric, 

An assortment of watch face and gear stamps from the tick tock plate 

some archival ink pads {I used black and plum}

and a good pair of scissors {like Tim's}

{you will also need a needle and thread, I used wax linen thread but you can use anything, oh and a packet of Tim's accoutrements}

 Start by stamping your choosen fabric with a selection of the gears and watch faces

 Next cut them out

 Then your gonna want to pick some accoutrements that have this sort of backing to them, Mine are from the accoutrements fanciful set

Now your going to need to thread them in ascending order, largest at the bottom working your way up to the smallest.

Once your needle reaches the top, thread one of the accoutrements on, then go back down through the stack and tie tightly at the bottom.

And there you have it,  A fast fun fabric adornment you can add to a bag, apron, top or just wear as a brooch.

To make it so they weren't so flat

I tied a small piece of thread in-between each layer.

So what ya waiting for, 

Get out your supplies and have some fun.

Stay Inky

Room for Improvement! by Nicky Cresswell

Good day fellow crafters, I hope you are well and happily creating art.

This is my last piece of the Mabel month and I saved the best for last.

I created a door plaque from a thick piece of cardboard.

I covered it with a sheet of retro grunge paper.

I then started by putting some chipboard letters onto squares of grungeboard, then covering with TSS metal, using the TSS tools to define the letters and jazz up the edges. I then smooched on some alcohol ink over the top to give a more grungy look.

I used some more chipboard letters coloured with distress ink and stamped with the 'star background' stamp, using the bubble as one of the O's, but it looked a little bare so I filled it by stamping the star inside.

I used the 'I'm forever blowing bubbles' mabel stamp coloured with my copics and then grungied up with distress inks.

 I stamped the 2 largest stars from the 'Star Plethora' plate, 1 on metal {which I embossed slightly} and one on grunge, and layered them up, and the finishing touches were a couple of retro grunge paper roses and an idea-ology hinge clip to hang it.

***

 And here is the finished door hanger perfect for any little Mabel's room

Thanks for stopping by, Until next time 

Stay Inky

May Challenge - Lovely Ladies & Gorgeous Girls

Goodly Morning Stampers and welcome to a brand new challenge for May. Many thanks for all your wonderful entries for April, the winner of this challenge will be announced on Tuesday May 3rd. The new challenge this month is "Ladies & Girls"... so we would like to see all your lovely ladies and gorgeous girly stamped images. To join in with the challenge is simple; make a piece of artwork, include the theme and some rubberstamping, pop back here to link up using the Froggy at the bottom of this post and leave us a comment to let us know you have joined in. As ever there will be candy for one randomly picked entrant - £15 worth of The Artistic Stamper stamps of your choice plus the Kling On to mount them onto. Moving on, last month we were very lucky to have the lovely and talented Kat Fullman as our Guest Designer, she pulled out all the stops and made some phenomenal pieces for the team. We loved Kat's work so much that we have asked her to stay on for this month too... and she has kindly agreed. The month of May is going to be Mabel Month here on the Creative Team blog... all the pieces you will see will be featuring the lovely vintage images from the pen of Mabel Lucie Attwell. These stamps evoke a byegone era and have proved to be very popular with young and old alike.

The team has been busy making samples for you to see:

Hels


This card features Hugs To Share and was coloured in using a waterbrush and Distress Inksin the following colours: Forest Moss, Wild Honey, Rusty Hinge, Tea Dye & Brushed Corduroy and the edges were blended with Antique Linen.

Minxy

I created a card using 'Nature's Little Helper' coloured with copic markers in colours matching the basic grey papers I used. I used the mini scrabble tiles from the 'Scrabble and Tags' plate to make it the perfect card for any mum. {this one went to mine}

Sioux

I created a quick and easy card using the very cute "Walkies" stamp, colouring the image with Copic markers.

Alison

 

This tag features Tall Alice and the Small White Rabbit, coloured in with a waterbrush and distress inks. Inks used are brushed corduroy, milled lavender, broken china, & tumbled glass. The Pyrex Bottle was stamped on frosted shrink plastic & shrunk. Alphabet stamps from the Scrabble & Tags plate were used for the phrase.

Thanks for looking... have a great month everyone... TTFN

Hels x

Flying the Flags! by Nicky Cresswell

Hay peeps, Minxy in da house. 

So I hope everyone had a nice long weekend and enjoyed the lovely weather we've been having, Don't worry, it will soon be friday and everyone will have an extra day off for the royal wedding!

People from far and wide will be lining the streets of london to wish the new couple well, and the trees and lamp posts will be lined with lots of flags & bunting! 

And speaking of bunting I made some of my own.

{did you see what I did there, I wasn't just randomly waffling} 

All the flags are made out of canvas and coloured with distress inks, The tops were diecut using Tims on the edge scallops die, I made a template for the scalloped circle and then hand cut them also from canvas.

I coated the chipboard letters with mica paints

***

Flag no.1

 I used punk plaid background, calligraphic text and the lady from the seaside no.1 plate.

***

Flag No.2 

 I used calligraphic mat 1, baroque background and the little boy from the childhood dreams plate. 

***

Flag No.3

 I used sequin waste open, calligraphic mat 12 and the lady from the dressmaking no.1 plate.

***

Flag No.4

 I used calligraphic mat 15, harlequin and the singing guys from the mens plate.

***

Flag No.5

 I used cogs background, calligraphic mat 4 and the little girl with bike from the our little ones elements plate.

***

And here they are all together!

Stay Inky

Bright Idea! by Nicky Cresswell

Hello to all you creative peeps out there, I'm back again, this time with a little wall hanging.

It's made from cardboard, I like to do my bit with the old recycling you know!

I started by cutting a square of card from an old box and ripping the top layer off in places, I then gave it a coat or 2 of paint.

I cut a section from the top of the card and glued old christmas lights that i'd coloured with permanent markers in top and bottom.

I stamped the cog inspiration light bulb onto some mica in brown stazon ink first, I then used the clear bulb and over stamped in black stazon to define the shape.

I used the mini scrabble tiles from the Scrabble and Tags plate to write bright & to make them pop I added a bit of colour using a yellow permanent marker and then glossy accented over the top.

***

To fill behind the fairy lights I stamped the cogs background onto parchment in brown ink, and then dry embossed around the cogs making the parchment turn white.

I randomly stamped the small cogs cluster all over the piece in vintage photo distress ink and heat embossed with distress embossing powder.

***

 As I had already used stamped mini scrabble tiles I thought it would be cool to incorporate actual old scrabble tiles into the piece, I sunk them into the cardboard by gently slicing all the way round each one then just pushed them in place, that way they didn't go all the way through the card.

 The piece was looking distinctly flat so to 'build it up' in keeping with this months challenge I cut out a bunch of cogs using my Vagabond and the gadget gears die {again using up more recycled cardboard}.

I distress embossed them all and then layered them using foam tape, and finished the middles by gluing old screws and bolts that I coloured again with permanent markers, I also coloured a little on the cogs to make it look like oil and grease.

***

Well thats your lot from me today, I hope you enjoyed my project and it inspires you to dig out some cardboard and get creating!

Until then Stay Inky

Fishy Takeaway! by Nicky Cresswell

Good day fellow stampers.. 

I thought that instead of cards or tags i'd get a bit more technical today..

So i've made some gift boxes.

And the great thing is all you need is 1 sheet of paper and no glue!

Oh and a template which you can find HERE

***

 All you need to do is print and cut out your template..

Also punch out the 2 black dots as these are where your wire will attach.

Lay it over some nice paper, you should use a good quality paper/card stock, 

for example Tim's paper stacks work great

I have chosen to give mine an aquatic feel using stamps for the Seaside #1 plate.

I stamped directly onto the paper after scoring all the lines but before folding.

 I also stamped and cut out elements and stuck them on with foam tape to give dimention.

 Then its as easy as folding it up. 

If you use a double sided paper you have a nice inside too. You may also notice here i have added a little bit of  reinforcement to the opening flaps to stop accidental tearing when opening and closing.

The only thing left to do now is attach the wire.

To do this you will need to gather the 2 flaps inside the box at either end and using the already punched out hole as a guide go through these 2 flaps, I used my big bite for this but you could use a pokey tool.

And there you have it, the perfect little treat box for him or her!

{Oh if your wondering how i got the boat wheel without the people in, I just masked the inner part of stamp b4 inking it, then remove the mask and hay presto, no captain and his mate!}

If you give this a try i'd love to see your creations, so be sure to leave a comment x

Until then Stay Inky

April Challenge - Build It Up

Good Morning Stampers and welcome to a brand new monthly challenge here at The Artistic Stamper Creative Team. First of all a big thank you for all your entries last month... Jennie will be using Mr Random.Org to pick a winner which will be announced on Sunday 3rd April so please do check back to see if you have won! This month the challenge is called Build It Up which means that we want to see lots of LAYERS on your artwork. To join in with the challenge, all you need to do is make a piece of artwork - it can be anything that takes your fancy, add in the theme and some rubberstamping and then leave your link on the Frog Link below... oh and please do leave us a comment so I can hop on over to see your entry! As usual, there is a prize on offer for one randomly picked entrant. The prize this month is £15 worth of Artistic Stamper rubberstamps plus the KlingOn to mount them onto. The winner of the challenge will be announced on Tuesday May 4th 2011.We have a new Guest Designer this month, I would like to say a huge welcome to Kat Fullman to the team. I would also like to say a big thank you to Gerrie Johnnic for her lovely contributions for us during March. To see more of Kat and Gerrie's art, please just click on their names.
The team have been busy this month with their entries for the challenge... here are their interpretations for your inspirations...


Sioux

Sioux made light work of cutting this tag using her Vagabond machine and the Tag & Bookplate Alterations Die ... making an aperture in the tag for her cheeky nude lady. The dashing young chap is from the Collage Art set and the butler is from The Mens Plate #01

Minxy

Minxy went flower crazy and made her beautiful layered papier mache frame using Retro Grunge papers and flower stamps from Flower Power, Flower Blooms, Flower Fever and the open butterfly from the Tick Tock Butterflies set.

Alison

Alison mixed her media and combined paper, inks and metal for her striking card. She used the Time & Keys plate to make her fabulous metal embellished card, turning a clock into an individual petal and layering them up. Distress Inks were used to colour the card and the focal image is from the Dressmaking plate.



Hels

I got inky with some of the new Distress Stains, colouring my tag background by scribbling the Stains direct to the tag, spritzing with water then dipping into inkyness on the craft sheet. That was 2 layers for the base... adding a third by using a Blending Tool to add Distress Inks to the tag. Stamping was done using Distress Inks and Calligraphic Mat #4 and Dotty Background stamps. The flower is made from Grungepaper stamped with Flower Power, Flower Fever and Flower Blooms stamps, then these were layered again with more background stamps. A little bit of Idea-ology Trim dyed with Distress Stains was added to the base of the tag and finally a raised sentiment from the new Tim Holtz Stuff to Say stamp set.
All of the products used by the team are available from THE ARTISTIC STAMPER. Do pop back tomorrow to see Kat's first project for us... it is beautiful and you will love it!! Thanks for looking ... have a inkilicious month!Hels x

Blooming 'eck! by Nicky Cresswell

Can you rightly believe its almost the end of the month.. i know i can't! 

Still it means that spring is well and truly here, thank goodness, I was getting mighty fed up of the long dull cold nights. And speaking of spring, don't forget you still have time to get your 'Spring' themed projects in for the monthly challenge and your chance to win candy!

***

So onto my last make of the month...

I started by stamping a white tag with the Dot background stamp a couple of times, I then spritzed some gold perfect pearls powder mixed with water in a mini mister, and ran the tag through Vinny, {that's what i've named my Vagabond} with a cuttlebug 'dot' embossing folder.

Next I cut 1 set of flowers out of white card using the tattered florals die,

 I inked the largest and smallest with faded jean distress ink, and the second largest with stormy sky.

 I stamped the second largest with the numbers stamp from the family values set in faded jeans and clear embossed it. I put them together with a blingy orange brad.

***

 The vine from the nature is art stamp set was stamped onto the tag directly, then again onto grungeboard using forest moss, I inked it with peeled paint which is why you can hardly see the veining from the stamp.

I cut it out and layered it over the tag stamped image.

To finish.... I stamped the small butterfly from the tick tock butterflies set, and inked with dried marigold and again stamped the numbers in wild honey and clear embossed.

Then it was a case of just putting it all together and adding the wording which I did with a dymo and attached with brads.

***

So thats your lot from me this month.. Is anyone as excited as me that there is only 2 weeks till Ally Pally  Jennie and Hels will both be demoing.. I can't wait!

Thanks for dropping by, please leave a comment so I know you've been. 

And i'll see you again real soon x

Stay Inky