Gentleman Jim - by Lesley Mackenzie

Hi all,

This months theme of 'SteamPunk' was a real challenge for me as this is not my preferred style. However once I got going I had great fun and will be doing more!
I decided to up-cycle an old CD gift box to create a man's gift box. 

The materials used:
Artistic Stamper stamps - Time and Keys and Ornate Flourish #3
Artistic Stamper stencils - Harlequin 3" x 3"
Number stencil - designer unknown
Pebeo Studio Acrylics 356 Violet Blue
DecoArt Spun Gold acrylic
DecoArt Black Gesso
DecoArt Crackle Glaze
Black StazOn ink
Black Embossing powder
Black and White Posca pens
Magazine image of man in a suit

Step 1 .
 I gave the box lid 2 coats of black gesso and then I stencilled the lid using the Violet Blue and Gold acrylics. As the box base was already gold I did not have to paint it.  When the lid was dry I gave it a coat of crackle glaze and left if to dry naturally. Once dry I painted with gold acrylic and while still wet wiped it back using a baby wipe so the gold filled the crackles only.

Step 2

  Next  I created 'Gentleman Jim'. For his body I used an image cut from a mail order catalogue and promptly cut his head off! I then  applied a coat of crackle glaze and left to dry. For the head
I stamped the smaller clock face using black StazOn. and painted the clockface with diluted silver paint, once dry I applied a coat of crackle glaze and left to dry.  For the wings I stamped a pair of the flourishes, painted with diluted gold and a coat of crackle glaze. I hand cut a top hat which I embossed black.

Step 3

Once the crackle glaze was dry I highlighted the crackle by applying and  wiping back black paint for the head and wings, and gold paint on the body. Next I glued all the elements on a piece of 150g card stock and cut out the completed image that a edged in black pen. It was then easier to glue the one image to  the box lid. To make the image pop against the dark background I outlined in white Posca pen .  I added a small clock embellishment and a band of ribbon to his hat, and a  little stamping on the background in gold for a final flourish.

I hope you enjoyed this project and if like me are new to the 'Steam Punk' style why not give it a go, it's great fun.

A little Dylusional by Debs

Hi Everyone

Sorry this post is a bit late, going to Harrogate for the weekend with Jennie, put me a bit behind. So i thought as i had learnt so much on Dyan's workshop, i thought it would only be fair to share one of those techniques with you.

I started by spritzing the page with water and then filling the page with Dylusions sprays 

and using water through a stencil I added some ghosting.

I stamped the image from the Faces #2 Plate and then added a frame using Black Dylusions paint and then added more paint through assorted Artistic Stamper stencils.

I added some white pen around the outside of the shapes and flowers and added some doodling.  I also added some white and grey pencils to the main image, for definition.

Take care and happy crafting

Debs

x

Creative.... Artful.... Inspire... Tag by Debs

Hi Everyone

When i sat down to make this project, the wind was howling and the rain was teeming against my craft room window.  I felt the need for something cheerful!! I also decided it was about time i used some of my gelli prints in a project rather than just keeping them to stroke!!

I started off with a large tag and covered it with some printed tissue, not worrying about creases

 Then i started adding in bits of gelli print, just ripping them off and sticking them down

I was going to add the pink bit at the end (its just off a paint spout) but it appeared to vanish between my taking this photo and finishing!!

I then started adding some acrylic paint i used Amsterdam paints, using pink and that lovely teal colour

I then added some stencilling using the mini square, the number stencil and Georginas Daisy and then stamped some circles using the Decay Journaling #1 Stamp set

I then stamped the circles again onto more Gelli Prints and cut them out and stuck them onto the tag where i had stamped.

I added some doodling with white and black pens either using the pattern on the gelli print or just doodling.  I also went round the stencilled images with a white pen as well.

I also stamped a some of the Framed words onto some white card

Added a nice pink ribbon bow and it cheered  me up no end!!  

Hope it inspires you.

There is still a week left on this months challenge so don't forget to add your projects, you never know you might win!!

Debs 

All Things Bright......... And Beautiful Card by Debs

Hi All

Here is my latest creation for this months challenge, I had a bit of fun with this one.  Thought i would put a slightly different take on the theme.

The background is nice and bright and then the subtle black and white of the Gibson Girl stamp from the Gibson Girls plate 1 represents the beautiful.

I covered a sheet of patterned paper with gesso covering pretty much the whole sheet (a great way to use up paper scraps or pages that you don't use for other things.

Then i scribbled some distress crayons over the gesso (they work best over gesso, as they move more freely)  Then i added a tiny a bit of water using my finger and blended the colours together.  Then once happy out came the stencils i used chevrons, random dots and honeycomb and the dylusions paints and with a sponge added stencilling over the top

It doesn't look great here but the more you add the better it looks

I used crushed grape and vibrant turquoise Dyslusion Paint, applying it through the stencil with a sponge  this way you don't get big blobs of paint  I did the same with a smaller piece of card for the backing of the embellished image

Added some white pen to make it all pop, wrapped some fibres around the piece of paper and using foam tape stuck the background to a card and then mounted a piece of black card the extra coloured piece and the stamped image onto the top.

I hope this has given you some inspiration and i shall look forward to seeing your projects added to the blog and Facebook as you do them.

Happy crafting

 Debs

Kiki stamp tag by Gemma

Hello Everyone

For my post today, I have created a very grungy tag with the fabulous Kiki stamp designed by Neil Walker. 

I ripped up some book paper, glassine paper and tin foil that I had run through an embossing folder, and glued them onto a plain manilla tag.

I then dragged some gesso over the top, leaving some patches bare. While the gesso was still wet I pressed some Finnabiar art ingredients texture powder into it.

I then mixed some espresso coloured acrylic paint with some Decoart tinting base, applying it over the tag using a palette knife. After running the heat gun over the top I stamped in places with calligraphy mat 11 using archival ink. I added some more espresso coloured paint and some texture powder, to the paint I had previously mixed. I added enough power to form a thick paste, which I spread through the new random dots mask.

Onto tissue paper I stamped Kiki and a few cogs from the Tick Tock stamp plate, once the ink was dry I went around each image with a water brush before tearing them out.

I glued these into place on the tag with gel medium, both underneath the tissue paper and on top to seal them.

I went around the tag with more espresso brown paint, and stamped some cogs over the top with ground espresso Distress Ink. To finish I stuck down some torn bits of washi tape and scribbled in places with a white paint pen.

Thank you for reading

Gemma (inkykitty)

Products used from The Artistic Stamper

Kiki (C) Neil Walker

Calligraphy Mat 11

Tick Tock Stamp Plate

Random Dots Mask

Manilla Tags

3D Collage by Debs

Hi All

Debs here with my latest project to tempt you to join in with this months challenge.  The dictionary gives the definition of collage as a piece of art that is made up of fabric and different pieces of paper.  See if you can see how many different types i have used, before you read on.

I took a canvas and flipped it over

I lined inside with a piece of hessian and added some grunge paste through the new stencils from The Artistic Stamper i used the Honeycomb and Random Dots, this helped to cover the staples

I painted the hessian and dried grunge paste with Paper Artsy Fresco Finish in Dusty Teal, Teresa Green and Baltic Blue.  I stamped the Border A6 plate and stamped the dotty border onto a piece of tissue paper, and glued onto the frame/canvas

I used a piece of green felt and die cut Tim Holtz and stamped it over with the cogs border again from the Border A6 set

I stamped the birds from the Small but Beautiful Bird stamps onto a book page

I also stamped the birds onto tissue paper

I stamped Imagine from the Journaling Words 5 plate

I had great fun making this and am looking forward to seeing more of your wonderful projects on here and on the Facebook group.  So get sticking with those bits of paper

Debs

Another tag by Titbelsoeur

Hello happy taggers !
Another tag to help you participate in our July challenge !

 This one is made with masks, but not only ! I have also used some of the fabulous Artistic Stamper new stamps !
The words "create", "inspiration" and "art" come from the Words mask, and the stamps are Decay Alphabet lower case and Decay Swirl Background
The Create words were masked with gesso and I heated it so that it bubbles :

Thanks so much for stopping by,

your comments are very much appreciated.

I hope that my tag did inspire you and that

you will participate in our July challenge

 to win some fabulous Artistic Stamper stamps.

Titbelsoeur

my blog

my Facebook page

A Quick Card by Debs

Hi All, Debs here with a quick card for you.

This was all done with the new Dylusions paint, which is like using melted chocolate, it really is that yummy!  The hearts were embossed after the paint had dried to give it a bit of a sheen,  I was hoping to have done it with Glossy Accents but was running out of time.


Products used:
Stitchels Dashy Dot A6
Jouraling mini words #1
6x6 Word Mask
Dylusions paints - Vibrant Turquoise, Fresh Lime and Squeezed Orange
Archival Black ink
Wow embossing powder - clear gloss
Distress embossing dabber
Full Instructions on how i made this can be found on my blog

ITS FUN TO CREATE! By Debs

Hi All

Debs here, Firstly i would like to thank Jennie for giving me the great honour of being on The Artistic Stamper Design Team, Alison will be a hard act to follow!

This months challenge is Journaling, I use my journal for just creating extra big pieces of art, or trying out paints, inks etc before i use them on smaller projects like cards or tags.  As I have just picked up my new fossilized amber distress inks, paints etc, well lets just say after seeing Jennies tag last week  I thought they would make a great choice to start my first ever DT post!  Having seen the new swirl stencil used to great effect everywhere i had that to try that out as well and as it says on the page.  Its Fun to Create!

I first sprayed the blank pages with the Fossilized (I really want to put an 's' in there) Amber distress stain spray and then spritzed quite lightly with water, dried and then repeated until I had a reasonably full coverage.  I have to say the colour on the lids of this new colour do not really do it justice, It goes on looking quite dark and dull and dries to a beautiful bright yellow.  Using the swirl stencil and just choosing random parts of it lightly sprayed with Abandoned Coral (yes really!!).  After that was dry I used the petal stencil and sprayed it with some more Amber.

The birds and butterflies were all stamped onto a piece of card and coloured using a water brush and the other three new distress ink pens.  The best way to do this is to scribble a bit of distress pen onto your craft mat or a stamping block and pick up with the water brush and just paint on some of the darker areas were applied by putting the pen straight onto the paper and then pulling out with the water brush.

The letters are all from the A4 words stencil.  I made up the words using the letters available the "Its" "To" and the "n" in fun are all taken from "inspiration"! I used the stencil as a template and drew around each letter with a black micro pen and then coloured them in using the same colours as before.  I added some lines in black to make stripes as i had on the border.

The border was done by hand drawing round a wavy shape and then adding in the stripes.  I forgot that adding blue to yellow would make green, lol ,as it was all done with the same four colours but it does make the page pop.  I also drew around each swirl in white pen which really makes the swirls stand out nicely, and also did the same thing on some of the petals.

Well thanks for checking out my first post as a Creative Team member and hopefully i will see you all again soon.

Products used:
The Artistic Stamper  Butterflies stamp mat
The Artistic Stamper Neil Walker Birdz set
The Artistic Stamper Swirl Mask
The Artistic Stamper Petal Mask
The Artistic Stamper Words A4 Mask
Tim Holtz Distress Stain Sprays in Abandoned Coral and Fossilized Amber
Distress Pens in Mermaid Lagoon, Cracked Pistachio, Abandoned Coral and Fossilized Amber