A thing of Beauty, by Jane

For this months "Retro" challenge, I have made a card using retro 70s style taking inspiration of the colours from that time, which were lots of brown, beige, and turquoise. I used to absolutely hate this kind of combination and style, but, now I love it, oh the beautiful wallpapers and shirts with their bold shapes, and symmetrical lines, just gorgeous.

The Artistic Stamper stamps used:

BOTANICAL 3

DECAY JOURNALING
beauty from NUDES stamp set

JANE

Secrets by Jane

Hi there Artistic Stamper Fans. For this months " Steampunk" challenge I have made a little book, titled Secrets!!...not that I am gonna put my deepest darkest secrets in this book, but I will fill it with nice secrets, probably relating to my Grandchildren and the enormous amount of love I have for them, then hopefully when I have left this mortal coil, they will find it and read it...not that they dont already know how much I love them, jack, who is six, told me last week that he is fed up of me telling him how much I love him and how gorgeous he is..lol!!...Billy is only two, so he is lovin telling me he loves me, and me likewise!!

The Artistic Stamper stamps used:

gears background

inspiration light bulbs

secrets word from nudes

Hope you will join in the STEAMPUNK challenge

JANE

All Woman!! by Jane

This month's challenge...."celebrating women". what a fabulous subject!!. however you interpret it, you cannot deny that the female of the species are pretty damn awesome....well... I know that I am!!! I am not claiming to be some kind of superwoman, but when I look back at what I have achieved, and pretty much on my own with not a lot of help from anybody else, (my hardest problem is asking for help!!).. I think I have done amazing...so there you are!!....I am going to celebrate the magic that is me, and all you fabulous females out there.

to create the background I have used :

SEQUIN WASTE BACKGROUND STAMP

CALLIGRAPHY MAT 12

for the main image I have used :

NUDES

and the little word is from the

ARCHITECTURE stamp set

JANE

Cos I'm ALL WOMAN!!

Hi there my crafting friends, Jane here to show you my inspiration for the ongoing "Square It" challenge that runs until the end of this month. I adore this huuuuuuge sheet of rubber stamps of NUDES images, it is A4 in size, and has images of different women, and also some useful words in there too. I started off with stamping a few of the images onto some gelli prints...yes still trying to use up my mountain!!!. As usual I don't have a step by step of this, but only because I never know where I am going with anything, and especially of this piece, I had to leave it several times and then come back with fresh eyes, my problem was that I wanted it to have a vintage feel, but not to cover up any of the images with lace or doilys or the such like, so in the end I just opted for some crackle glaze and a bit of stenciling with the HARLEQUIN MASK.

I hope you like it, and that it inspires you to join in our "Square it " Challenge.

JANE

My Fantasy

Hi all.... last minute Lizzy here!!!...yes me..Jane, (I think I have already said that if there was no last minute, then nothing would get done)!!, well it is certainly true for me. I am just in a panic here at the moment because I am in the process of making a memory book for my youngest grandson who is one year old in two days, and as it is my birthday tomorrow I want to do all the things you do on birthdays like going out for meals and drinking lots of champagne.....not stuck in the house trying to finish this book, soooo, I completely forgot about doing my post, so you will have to excuse me for showing a card that I did at the same time as one that I did for a previous post, It is very similar but has a different image and a different sentiment, crikey...aren't I glad that the theme for this month is "Anything Goes"...got me out of a pickle!!!

Hee Hee!!..Doncha just love these images from the NUDES stamp set, I just stamped the image onto tissue, and added white paint onto the back of the image so that it stood out on the background, I used distress inks for the background and I also used the HARLEQUIN MASK.

Hope you can all join in this months "Anything Goes" challenge.

JANE

Damsel in Distress!!!..Never!!!

I'm loving this months challenge..."Distress It".... I mean...who doesn't love Sir Tim's distress inks, oxides, sprays....well to be more precise..every God damn Tim Holtz product!!!..between them and dancing lessons, I am never gonna be able to retire to a villa on the beach in the south of France!!!..lol.

Anyways, I killed two birds with one stone for my "distress it" card, I used my two favourite distress inks, walnut stain and spiced marmalade, and I even used the word distress in the title!!

Other products I have used are the HARLEQUIN MASK, the CALLIGRAPHY MAT 12 stamp, and the woman is from the NUDES stamp set.

I do hope you will join in this fabulous challenge, I look forward to seeing your entries.

JANE

The Year Of The Woman

Hi Guys!!, Well my card for today is so simple but....crikey!!!... whoever said that  clean and simple cards are hard to do...were spot on!!!.... a week of thinking....twenty minutes of doing!!!

I kinda like it, but had to do several attempts before I was happy, I kept on throwing more things on it but it took your eye away from the fabulous woman stamp...taken from the NUDES stamp set, this is a fabulous set of stamps and includes the words too. 

The Challenge for this month is "RED", interpreting  it any way you choose, to join in just download your works of art HERE.. I look forward to seeing your makes.

JANE

Wild Abandon by Alison (Craftytrog)

Hello Stampers! Today I have a journal page to share with you.

This page started out as a bit of an experiment. I covered the base with DecoArt crackle paste, & then left it overnight to dry.

For the next stage, I painted it with Claret Fresco Finish, & sponged some Inky Pool FF around the edges.

Then I applied Grunge Paste through a Crafter's Workshop stencil, allowed it to dry, then sponged Inky Pool FF paint over the top.

I finished the background by using a soft brush to apply White Fire Treasure Gold around the edges.

The tag was a leftover from a previous project, using blue Fresco Finish paints. I used my finger to add a little Claret paint, sponged the edges with Inky Pool, then stamped the Script from Calligraphic Mat 11 with Sienna Archival Ink.

I stamped the image from the Nudes Plate onto glossy card, using Cobalt Archival Ink, then sponged on some Broken China Distress Ink. I distressed the edges, then glued it to the tag.

I used Sienna Archival Ink and alphabet stamps for the wording, inked the edges with Cobalt, then glued in place.

After gluing the tag to the background, I used the Karantha Elegant Lady mould & some friendly plastic to make the top left embellishment. I made the starfish & shells using a cake decorating mould & FP, & added a gold metal button to the top of the tag.

Here's my page again...

Thanks for visiting,

Alison xxx

Hot Pants by Alison (Craftytrog)

Hello Stampers! I have a hot little canvas to share with you today. I've been using the fabulous Nudes Plate again.

On a 6x4 inch canvas board, I used a palette knife, Studio gesso &  the Crafter's Workshop Harlequin stencil, to add some random texture around the edge.

Once the Gesso was dry, I spritzed the canvas with yellow, red & pink Dylusions inks. The Gesso resisted some of the ink, so you can still see the diamonds.

I stamped a background using Jet Black Archival ink, Calligraphic Mat 9, and the Open Sequin Waste background.

I stamped the hot pants image and words from the Nudes Plate onto white card, cut them out, & used a waterbrush & the Dylusion inks to colour the image.

I edged the image & words with black ink, then used Studio Matt Medium to adhere them to the canvas.

I used a lid to stamp some black Studio paint circles, & an old credit card to add some black lines. 

To finish, I inked the edges of the canvas with black Archival ink, & used a black pencil to shade around the words & image.

Thanks for looking,

Alison xxx

Secrets by Alison ( Craftytrog)

Hello Stampers! Today, I have a little frame to share with you.

I used an antique copper memory frame by Ranger, and frosted glass slides. 

First I cut a piece of glossy card the same size as the glass slides (1"x3"). I used cut & dry foam to ink it with  aquamarine & deep purple Archival ink, then lightly stamped a script with the purple ink, avoiding the top where the nude's face would go.

I inked the image from the Nudes Plate with jet black archival, then laid my inked card down, on the part of the image that I wanted. 

I took the word 'secrets' from the Chit Chat Stickers, inked the edges with purple archival, then attached it to the image. I sandwiched the image between the two glass slides, then inserted them in the memory frame. 

I used glossy accents to add some Beadazzles, then attached a key charm with a jump ring.

I'm going to attach a brooch back to my frame, & I'll probably be wearing it as you read this ;)

Thanks for looking,

Alison xxx

Nudes in the Frame by Alison

Hi Everyone! It's Alison here again, with my second piece of art for January.

One of the very first plates of stamps that I bought from The Artistic Stamper, was the Nudes plate. It has a beautiful set of images, and also some very useful words on it. You don't always need to use full images in your art, and I decided to use just the heads and shoulders of three of the images in a Mini Hanging Frame set.

First of all, I separated the frames, and took out the clear plastic and card inserts. Save the pieces of card to stamp on. I then covered the frames with the definitions tissue tape from the symphony set. I coloured the tissue tape with cool peri alcohol ink, then sealed it with a layer of multi medium, to stop the tape from peeling off.


I took three of the Nudes images, then stamped the heads and shoulders onto the saved card from the frames. It's easier to lay your card onto the stamps, to get the parts of the images that you want. As the card is a little bit glossy, I used Archival jet black ink.


I stamped some of the Words & Sayings from The Artistic Stamper, onto white card, cut out the single words I wanted, inked the edges, then added them to my images.

Finally, I re-assembled my frames, added some beaded trim (the ribbon was also coloured with cool peri alcohol ink), and a metal heart button.


I hope this has inspired you! Thanks for looking!