Do Not Adjust Your Colour...

...Goodly Morning! Another day and another Mabel Lucie Attwell stamp for our special "Mabel Month of May" feature. This time Coming Up Daisies is making another appearance.




I wanted to make my card vintagey so opted for the sepia tones achieved with just a few Distress Ink pads. First of all, Mabel was stamped with Coffee Archival ink and then watercoloured using Frayed Burlap, Vintage Photo and Walnut Stain Distress Inks. This technique is really simple and very effective... all you need to do is squish your ink pad onto a non stick craft sheet and use a waterbrush or wet paintbrush to collect the ink and then paint it onto the image. I have found that if I use my heat gun to quickly zap the painted part, it allows me to add shading as the card doesn't become too saturated with water.



The flowers I have added to the card are the three sizes of Stitchels Dotty Dot flowers, stamped with Coffee Archival and inked with Vintage Photo Distress Ink and then layered up together. The sentiment was stamped also in Coffee Archival and you will see I got a little bit... exhuberant (!) with the edge distresser to the point that I tore some of the paper so had to disguise with a flower over the tear!



I hope you like this card... please feel free to use the design as a sketch... if you do it would be lovely if you popped back to let me know! Thanks for looking... TTFN

Hels x

Take Four... By Hels Sheridan

Goodly day to you all... I have been keeping to my New Year Resolution of making a few cards a week so I have a nice big pile of them when I need one... and this card is totally inspired by a beautiful one made by Tina a few weeks ago. To see that card, please click here :O))




So, have you seen those GORGEOUS little Mabel Lucie Attwell stamps that are exclusive to The Artistic Stamper? This one I have used here is called It's Raining. All the deets on the designs available are HERE. I can't possibly say which one is my favourite because I love them all... they are so versatile and can be used to make "cute and pretty" cards as well as more vintagey ones like the one I have made here. I used just four Distress Ink pads to colour the image and the card: Old Paper, Frayed Burlap, Vintage Photo and Brushed Corduroy. I wanted to make a sepia look to the card and these brown tones just work so well to do that.




The image was stamped with Coffee Archival ink and then coloured using a waterbrush to pick up the Distress Inks. The best way to do this is to squidge your inkpad onto a craft sheet or acrylic block and then pick up the ink onto your brush... one thing that is a no-no is picking up ink directly from the pad... this will ruin your pad! I blended the edge of the image with Old Paper and edged with Brushed Corduroy.




The little flowers are made by stamping Dotty Dot Stitchel Flowers in all three sizes onto paper, cutting out and then edging front and back with Brushed Corduroy. To find all the goodies on this card, please click on the links through the post :O)) Thanks for looking!! TTFN

Hels x

Bobby The Snowman By Hels Sheridan

Morning! Blimey, Winter came early last week didn't it??? I didn't get that much snow here but I know a lot of peeps were affected by it. One thing I always love to do is make a snowman... and seeing as I didn't have enough of the real white stuff to play, I improvised and used my Bobby Snow Stitchels design instead and made an Easel card.




Bobby was stamped in Black StaZon and then coloured with: Tumbled Glass, Vintage Photo, Fired Brick, Aged Mahogany, Crushed Olive and Spiced Marmalade Distress Inks - using a waterbrush to apply the colours to him.




I stamped some Stichels Holly Garland, coloured with Forest Moss Distress Ink and added some Fired Brick Distress Stickles to the berries and to Bobby's buttons and flower. The sentiment is a new one for 2010 - I am just loving that font! Thanks for looking... hope you have a good week!

Hels x

I dreaming of ...............................

............... more Stitchel stamps!

Hi Peeps!

I am going to bug the wonderful Hels Sheridan, the designer of Stitchels, until she caves in and designs more Christmas stamps! I love love love the snowmen and snowladies. They are available at The Artistic Stamper

This cutie is Millie!


I have used my favourite Promarkers to colour the stamp. I decided to go for pinks instead of the traditional colourways, well Millie is a lady!




What I have tried to show in this card is that when you are creating a Christmas Card, you can use embellishments that aren't necessarily Christmas embellishments. Yes I have used a Christmas charm but everything else can be used on any card.




By changing the colour of the flowers to match the colours I have used on the stamp and adding matching ribbon and liquid pearls around the edge bring everything together.
When you look at the card you think "Pink Christmas", but really the stamp and and charm are the only Christmas themed items.
So, come on give it a go, change your everyday embellishments to blend in with your Christmas cards.
I would LOVE to see what you do, so please leave me a comment and I can come and see.
Bye for now!
Tina xxxxxxxxxxx

The Best Dressed Snowman by Tina Barnett

Hi Gang!

I am in LOVE with Stitchels Snowmen stamps by the wonderfully talented Hels Sheridan. They are available at The Artistic Stamper

This is Marty! So so cute! The stichels Snowmen and Snowladies make such amazing and cute cards.

I have also used two of the Stitchels Holly Stamps too. Marty and the holly stamps have been coloured using Promarkers.

I love making Easel cards because you can use different things for the "buffer" of the card. This time I have used ribbon.

I have also put ribbon under the main image and added a little bell charm.

I then finished off with some of my favourite perfect pearls in a little random pattern at the base of the card. The stamps make wonderful Christmas Cards of course, but also I would use them for invitations to a Christmas party. There are different Snowmen and women in the range, you must take a look! I have coloured them all so I am sure you will see more here and on my blog :0) xx

Thank you for looking and don't forget to pop over to The Artistic Stamper and look at the full range of Stitchels stamps. I would love to see what you make.

Bye for now!

Tina xxxx

Listen to your Heart - By Sioux Jenneys

Hello everyone! It's my turn again and I'm here to share a card :)

I read somewhere that you could probably make a flower out of almost any stamp...it might have been Wendy Vecchi but I'm not sure!

Anyway.....I thought I'd see what I could come up with so here's a little idea :)

1. Start by stamping the leaves (16 needed) using the solid leaf from the Flower Power Plate in Distress Inks Peeled Paint and Shabby Shutters onto thin card - don't over ink the stamp so that you can create a variegated look to the leaves and try picking up some of each colour on a few of the leaves.....cut out leaving a narrow border - you don't have to be precise :) as you are going to tatter the edges and ink with Distress Ink Brushed Corduroy.

P.S. I've had my cheapo paper distresser ages but you can get a brand spanking new T!m one here.

2. Stamp the heart from Stitchels Curly Dot Plate in Jet Black Adirondack Archival four times onto old book paper overlapping at the centre

- again it does not have to be precise it all adds to the effect when they are layered up!

3. Add a dot of Adirondack Dimensional Pearls in Butterscotch and Terracotta where the little dot is on the stamp

- how convenient is that!

4. Repeat steps 2 and 3 another two times so you have 3 layers of petals.

5. Stamp the flower from Stitchels Curly Dot Plate twice and again add the dots in dimensional pearls.

6. Make the background on the card by brushing Adirondack Dimensional Pearls in Butterscotch and Terracotta with a dry brush using a very loose motion in various directions until you have covered the card to your liking :)

7. Draw a square using a Sharpie pen leaving a gap at the bottom for your chosen sentiment

....I chose a Stampers Anonymous T!m one and stamped it in Versafine Onyx Black

8. Assemble the parts for a pleasing layout and glue a large press stud to the centre of the large flower.



Job Done!
:) See you soon!
xoxo Artyjen