Altered Notebook by Alison

Hello Stampers!

Today I have a little 10x10cm altered notebook to share with you.

I started by painting the cover with Studio black gesso. 

I used a craft knife to cut an aperture out of a piece of 10x9cm card, then covered it with sticky back aluminium. I cut through the middle of the aperture, corner to corner, then folded back the excess aluminium.

I used various Ten Second Studio tools to add a design to the frame, then covered it with black acrylic paint. I wiped it off fairly quickly, to leave just black paint in the recesses, & give it an aged look.

Next, I cut a piece of card to fit inside the aperture, then sprayed it with pink bubblegum & squeezed orange Dylusion spray. I sponged picked raspberry distress ink through a Dylusion stencil, then layered the card & frame on the front of the notebook.

I stamped the Art Dictionary Words on some white card, inked it with pumice stone distress ink, cut it into pieces as shown, & glued the pieces to the notebook cover. 

I spritzed some of the pink bubblegum spray into the air above the notebook, so that some landed on the words with a nice speckled effect.

To finish, I used the sprays to colour some seam binding, then attached a couple of metal beads & tied it around the book. I'm using one end as a bookmark.

I thought this little book would be perfect to take to craft shows, to write notes in, as I watch demonstrations.

Thanks for looking,

Alison xxx 

Home Sweet Home by Alison

Hello Stampers! This week I've been playing with Kat's gorgeous new stamp designs, which can be found HERE.

My base is a little 3.75 inch square block, 0.75 inches deep. I covered the front & sides with Ideaology Tissue Tape, then inked it with juniper & willow Alcohol Inks. If any pieces of Tissue Tape don't want to stick, just glue them down with some Studio Matt Medium.

Next, I took some silver Ten Seconds Studio metal sheet, & stuck it to black card, using Humungo Tape. I stamped the houses, flowers & phrase from Kat's Creations Plates, using jet black Stazon ink. I dried this with a Heat Tool, then traced around the houses & flowers with an embossing tool. I cut out the images, leaving a small border, then used a Wheel Tool to edge them. 

I painted the images with Alcohol Inks Lights, using a fine paint brush. I did this very lightly as the alcohol inks tend to react with the stazon. Finally, I used Studio Matt Medium to glue the images to my base.

Thanks for looking,

Alison xox

FREE AS A BIRD TAG

Hi all,
Kat here,
I'm here today with my third & final piece for the month,
the design team focus is on Tissue Tape
I got so involved with playing with the distress stains
I forgot to take any step by step pictures, so I will talk you through the proses.
Here's my tag,

I started by gluing torn bits of book page to the tag with

Matte Medium & brushing the medium randomly

over the whole tag to create a resist,

then with pale blue acrylic paint,

splodged onto my craft sheet,

I dipped the Small Cog Stamp into it & stamped it on the tag,

next I took tumbled glass & bundled sage Distress Stains

covered the whole tag & wiped off the excess straight away,

with Jet Black archival ink, I stamped the

Small Cog Stamp & free as a bird stamps onto the tag,

I added a strip of Tissue Tape near the bottom edge,

then took ten seconds studio copper metal & tools,

stamped the cogs & the phrase as shown

to make a couple of embellishments, & stuck them on.

the Tissue Tape bow was made by

pulling some off the roll & twisting it to make a strand,

I arranged it into a bow & tied it with string,

I added it to the top of the tag & glued a

vintage button to the center.

for the bird,

I die cut him, ran him through a cuttle bug

with a texture fade embossing folder,

then inked him up with vintage photo Distress Ink

added an eye with black enamel,

the wing is made with black UTEE

& rubbed over with inka gold

I gave him a crown for his head &

drew a branch for him to sit on.

That's it,

Hope you like him!

see you next month,

have a creative day,

Kat x.

Jewellery Box by Alison Hall

Hello Stampers!

For my first post this month, I decided to decorate a little wooden box. I used the small 6x6x3.5 cm one, available from The Artistic Stamper here.

First of all, I took off the hinges, using a small screw-driver, then I painted the box & lid usingshell pink paint dabber. Then I painted all but the insides of them with red pepper dabber. Then I used my finger to rub some Viva Inka Gold Rose over the outsides of the box & lid.

For the phrase inside the lid, I stamped the phrase from the Botanical 3 plate. I cut out each word, then edged them with distress inks & glued them inside the lid.

I glued some gold lace around the base, then re-attached the hinges.

For the flower, I took two squares of gold metal, big enough to stamp the large & medium flowers from the Flower Power plate on. I used a damp piece of cut & dry foam to paint one of the pieces with the Inka Gold Rose. It took a couple of coats to get a good coverage.

I stuck the pieces of metal to two pieces of black card, using Humungo tape, as this makes the pieces more durable for shaping. Then I stamped the large flower onto the plain gold piece, & the medium flower onto the painted piece, using black stazon ink. I cut the flowers out, then stamped the gold flower with the lace background stamp, using the stazon ink.

I edged both flowers, using a Ten Second Studio wheel tool, cut into the petals of each flower, about half an inch, then shaped & layered them together, using glossy accents.

I added one of Tim's Fanciful Accoutrement buttons to the centre of the flower. These are on special offer on The Artistic Stamper website, at the moment, together with Tim's Baubles, & some of his Alteration Dies.

Finally, I glued the flower onto my box, et voila! A pretty little jewellery box, just perfect as a gift, containing a small piece of jewellery.

I also made another metal flower, and this time, I attached a brooch back to it, for a pretty piece of wearable art.

I've use Hot Colours on my pieces, in keeping with The Artistic Stamper Challenge this month. Don't forget to go and join in the Challenge, if you haven't already!

Thanks for looking!

Alison xx

Time Will Never Wait by Alison Hall

Hello Stampers, I've a little canvas board hanging to share with you today, featuring the Mabel Lucie Attwell White Rabbit.

Firstly, I stamped the large White Rabbit onto tissue, using black archival ink, then adhered it to a 7x5" canvas board, using matt medium.

Then I applied a layer of Viva Ferro around the edges. I stamped into this with watches & the word Time from the Time & Keys plate. Remember to wet your stamps when you do this, & clean them straight away after. Leave this to dry, or if you're impatient like me, use a heat gun.

I painted over the Ferro & around the rabbit with purple palette Studio paint, then with touches of sky blue. I painted over the embossed areas of the canvas with silver Viva Precious Metal paint, then edged the canvas with the sky blue paint.

I used a fine paintbrush to sketchily paint the rabbit with Studio paint.

The phrase from the Time & Keys plate is stamped onto silver Ten seconds studio metal sheet, using black Stazon. I mounted it onto black card, then edged it with a patterned wheel tool. I brushed a thin layer of sky blue Studio paint over the metal, then edged it with the same paint, before gluing to my canvas.

Finally, I punched holes at the top, added eyelets & ribbon, then embellished the canvas with a silver clock charm.

Thanks for looking,

Alison xx

'Time' by Alison Hall

Hi, Alison here again! This time I have a little Steampunk tag to share with you.


I started off with a manila tag, which was inked with tumbled glass, vintage photo and walnut stain distress inks. I stamped this with the cogs background, then embossed it with the Ten Seconds Studio Kabuka mould 7. I sanded off the embossing to reveal the original manila colour, and to show off the details. I inked the edges with tumbled glass distress ink.


Next, I stamped Phineas Pinchbeck onto white card, inked him with the distress inks, then cut him out. I added glossy accents to the watch, then attached a Tim Holtz charm clip to the bottom, and dangled a little handmade charm. I attached Phineas to the tag with foam pads.


I stamped the phrase from the Time & Keys plate, cut out the words separately, inked them, and added them down the right-hand side of the tag.

Finally, I sanded a Tim Holtz corner, added it to the bottom of the tag, then threaded some string through the top to finish.

Thanks for looking! xx

Meet Professor Christmas...By Nicks

For my second project for The Artistic Stamper I just had to use my favourite stamp of The Artistic Stamper Christmas collection - Tick Tock Father Christmas

A few weeks ago my very understanding OH brought home some conical vases that some one was throwing out, because he had a suspicion that I could do something with them. Did I want them?? Of course I did!!

With Santa in one hand and a bottle in the other, it was obvious that the shape was perfect for a Santa shape and so this Christmas Steampunk Decoration evolved.

I dribbled some alcohol inks into the bottle and swirled it around, I didn't want it to cover the whole inside. I then partly filled the bottle with some bits and pieces from my stash - some hardware (I have more in my craft room that OH has in his toolbox!), some Tim's idea-ology bits and some Christmas Stars and snowflakes.

The Prof's cloak was made from a piece of wire mesh cut to shape and covered organza and roughly sewn along the sides with silver thread and edged with some washer thingamajigs - don't ask me what the are really called! - The sack was made from an odd bit of hessian I had lying around and filled with some rusty nails my son found in his friends dad's workshop.

I stamped the Santa stamp onto some TSS metal using stazon ink. Dry embossed with with a selection of the TSS tools and working from the back of the metal on a thick foam mat and using a paper stump, plumped (is that the word??) his face. Before trimming him down I filled the back with some lightweight polyfilla and allowed to harden - this keeps the shape of the metal.

He needed arms - He now has arms and a chest because I stuck him on top of a skeleton which I had saved from Halloween

I love Prof Christmas and he looks very much at home on our mantelpiece - not sure he will go in the Christmas Dec box after the festivities are over though!

Thanks for looking! I will be back again after Christmas, so I'll wish you all a very Happy Christmas now but if you would like to see some more project using the lovely AS stamps hop over to my blog each day before Christmas where I am opening my advent calendar every day and sharing a 'me time' treat with you all

Nicks Arty Stuff

Life is a Journey! By Alison Hall

That's certainly true! Hi! Alison here! Thank you Jennie & Hels for giving me my first ever guest designer opportunity! And what fabulous stamps I've had to play with! For my first piece, I chose to use Jennie's wonderful new Inspiration Light Bulbs. I thought they'd make great hot air balloons. And, to carry on the steampunk theme, I used the Cogs Background, and also the Calligraphic mat and the Punk Plaid Background.




Here are the instructions for my frame

1. Paint a Shadowbox with Gesso, then spread Ferro all around the frame of it. Stamp into the wet Ferro with the Cogs Background & the Caligraphic Mat. Make sure you wet your stamps when you do this, and clean them thoroughly straight afterwards.

2. While the box is drying, make the metal inlay. This is a piece of Ten Seconds Studio silver sheet metal, embossed with the TSS Kabuka Mould 7. Age it with Pitch Black Dabber, use Ultramarine Stazon to colour it, then add highlights with Orange Inka Gold.

3. Back to the Shadowbox. Once it is dry, sponge Azure Precious Metal Paint all over it, including the cavity. Add highlights to the stamped areas with Silver PM Paint and Orange Inka Gold. Once the paint is dry,adhere the metal inlay into the cavity, using red line tape.



4. To make the 'balloons' and sentiment embellishments, make a 'tape sandwich' with silver metal, humungo tape & black card. Stamp two of the Blank Lightbulbs, the Punk Plaid Background, & the phrase 'All of Life is a Journey' onto the metal, with Black Stazon.

5. Cut out the two Lightbulbs, then stamp one with the Cogs Background, & the other with the Caligraphic Mat. Use a TSS embossing tool to highlight the detail, then the TSS Micro Diagonal wheel around the edges.



6. Cut two basket shapes from the Punk Plaid Background, then emboss them with the TSS tools. Attach the baskets to the 'balloons' with short lengths of silver wire.

7. Cut out the phrase and emboss the edges of this with the TSS wheel tool. Rub a little of the Orange Inka Gold onto all of the metal embellishments, then curve them all slightly before gluing them to the frame with silicone glue.

8. To finish the frame, add a few pieces of Tim Holtz Ideaology.

I hope you like this piece - and thank you for looking!

Alison