Celebrating Spring by Astrid

Hello everyone and lovely to have you visiting!
Hope you all had a good Easter!
For my second project this month I decided to make a little Springtime hanger.

I took one of the Paper Mache Icons, this one is the 20.2 x 10 x 1.3 cm one. First I added some texture with the help of a Tim Holtz and a  Crafters Workshop stencil, the Gothic Romance one and some Grunge Paste, when that was dry I gave it a coat of Snowflake Fresco Finish Paint. Then for a more grungy look I added some Picket Fence Distress Crackle paint.

Hard to see on the photo, but if you look closely you can see the crackle. It's much bigger on the heart, because I put it on more thickly. I also added some texture to the sides in the same way.

Next I added some colour, I decided to use some of the new Wendy Vecchi Archival Inks. I used Dandelion,Cornflowers, a tiny bit of Leaf Green, Tree Branch and Potting Soil. I applied it using some make up sponges. I also did some background Stamping using the Calligraphic Mat 12 stamp and stenciling using Watering Can.

Time to add a vocal point. I decided it had to be a butterfly from the Butterflies and Insects set.
Sometimes it works better to add background colour first before stamping your image and then colouring it afterwards, so I prepared a bit of smooth stamping paper with some Dandelion Archival ink and some home made gold shimmer spray.

I then stamped my chosen  butterfly, fussy cut it and adhered it to the panel, after darkening the centre a little bit with a Walnut Stain Distress Marker

Some flowers, Tim Holtz chip board letters and chit chat stickers finished it all off.

Hope you like my hanger and don't forget, there are a few days left still to join in our challenge, Embossing and Texture.

Have a happy inky day

Spring Means Butterflies by Sue West

Hello once again.

Time for my second spot this month as guest designer.  With spring in the air I have used the Insects and Butterflies No.1 stamp, which has just got some lovely finely detailed images to use. In fact, I like this stamp so much I have made both a small picture and a notebook.

First of all the picture.

First I stamped a butterfly onto some paper from my stash using Coffee Archival Ink. Next I glued some Clearly for Art to the top of a small  Wendy Vecchi Artpart frame before covering with some more paper which I've sanded and inked with Vintage Photo Distress Ink to give it a shabby look.  Next I attached a mini bookplate to the base of the frame, and slipped in a Latin butterfly name cut from the Tim Holtz Crowded Attic Paperstack.  Then, before gluing the frame to the base I popped in a few sparkly bits and a couple of tiny charms, and made a double loop of twine to hang the finished project.

While I had this stamp set out I also made a small note book as a gift for a friend.

For this I've recycled some packaging from Amazon to make the covers. I cut two postcard size pieces of card for the front and back covers and then cut an aperture in the front cover. Both bits of card are covered with paper, and then I've used a contrasting paper to stamp some more of those lovely butterflies and insects on, again using coffee Archival Ink, and used this paper to line both the front and back covers. 

On the outer part of the front cover I've used the A5 Swirls Splats and Dots stamp, again stamped in coffee Archival Ink. The tiny grass hoppers are embossed in a coppery colour, and the edges of the covers are inked with Vintage Photo Distress Ink.

The inside pages are made from watercolour paper aged with Antique Linen Distress Stain and stamped with more insect images and swirls, splats and dots.

I've used a Bind-it-All to finish off my notebook, but it would work just as well with punched holes and some pretty ribbon to bind it together.  Final finishing touches are some twine tied and curled around the binding rings and some bits of Idea-ology.

Sue x

Some simple thinking and inking!

A big hello and a Very Happy New Year wish to you all! Sarah here with my first Guest spot at the Artistic Stamper! Firstly, I hope you've all had a fantastic time of celebrations, lounging, fine food and merriment! A whole new year of crafty discoveries lie ahead...but where, oh where, do we start? Well, I have enjoyed all the tinsel, glitter and glam stuff, but I thought some back to basics, old school inkiness might just be the tonic! Some days you just can't beat fine stamps, Distress Inks and tattered edges...

After all the festive tags and mass card production, it's nice spending some quality time with just a couple of free themed creations. I was drawn to the elegant and fine details of the flowers on The Botanical Plate 1. I created a stencil by drawing and cutting out three rectangles from a card scrap. I taped it lightly to my card and began gently sponging graduated shades of Distress Inks with a piece of Cut 'n' Dry Foam. I used Mustard Seed, Scattered Straw and Wild Honey working from light to dark. Sponge gently taking care not to drag or twist otherwise you'll get streaks and lines.

I gave it a quick dry with my heat gun and then I inked up my stamp in Plum Archival Ink by Ranger. It's a great colour and just a little different from the brown shades. I made sure I stamped off centre, between two blocks so the flower can be seen against both the white card and rich inky tones. I then stamped a Wendy Vecchi sentiment which seemed to fit perfectly with the daisy. See lots more Wendy words here! I distressed and inked the edges and layered it up onto some Graphic 45 design paper and a white card base.

For my second card I turned the stencil, slightly changing the colours by using Scattered Straw, Wild Honey and Rusty Hinge Distress Inks Take time to gently blend the colours. Don't be afraid to apply more ink to achieve the exact shade you want. Make sure your stencil has fairly wide sides otherwise you'll get ink around the card edge too!

This time I went for the Lilies (from the same plate) although they rather remind me of daffodils with these rich colours. I stamped them with using Ranger's Coffee Archival Ink. I also added a two lines of random machine stitching to my card base for a shabby look...see you don't have to be able to sew in a straight line at all! For extra interest, I also added some gold thread, ribbon and lace scraps, and an orphan button.

Once again all finished off with fine Wendy words. Coincidentally, these two wonderful floral stamps are also available to buy individually here. So if you're on a post Chrimbo budget, you can still play along!
Well, that's me all done...
Just a simple but effective idea to get you going and one you can adapt for use with many colours and stamps. Especially when you think of all those thank you cards you need to write, not to mention the faint whisper of Valentine's and Mothers Day! Thanks for calling by and happy crafting! Sarah.

Getting Into The "Spirit" Of Halloween

Tonight is Halloween, and the night of witches, ghouls and ghosts! How could I let today go by without making something ghostly and ghouly, and not a witch in sight! ( unless of course you count me! LOL) . I spent sometime playing with Mr Holtz's embossing folders, and used a tag in the process. Ink up your tag with distress inks: I used the Autumnal Limited Edition colours ( there may be some more available early next month , if you haven't got your set yet) , and inked the tag, and then ran it through with an embossing folder to raise the letters. I then re inked it to get a better depth of colour. I cut another tag from Wendy Vecchi's clear Clearly for Art sheets, and inked these up with Mini Halloween 2  stamps from Mr Holtz, on both sides with black archival, gently heating them to set.

Add  a skull  cut from black shrink plastic and bats cut from black Clearly for Art, from the mini alterations die, Heat the Clearly for Art to bend the bats so they have some movement, and glue carefully to the clear tag.  Staple to the embossed tag.

May you have a spooktacular Halloween ( always wanted to say that! ) , and stay creative
Jennie

Find Delight in the Everyday things by Tina Barnett

Hi ! I am back with more Mabel Lucie Attwell stamps. This cutie is called "Ah! There you are". It's by The Artistic Stamper

I have gone Coredination mad on this card! I just love how all the colour work together.

I started with an 8inch by 8inch card stock. I added some green Coredination card to the base, I then chose 4 other colours and cut them to equal in size squares. I then used Tim Holtz Embossing folders and then distressed the card.

I added the card to the main card then used some nestibilities and cut and distressed some Coredination card stock and mounted the stamp on top.

The image is coloured using the water coloured Promarkers. I have used water colour card.

I used a Wendy V stamp for the sentiment and finished off with some flowers and distress stickles .

I LOVE the Coredinations! you have to give it a try!

Thanks for looking, until next time xxx

Hugs Tina xxxx

Tropical Bottle

Good Morning everyone ... I'm back with my 2nd project as Guest Designer for July! As the British Summer has failed to start for most of us I thought I would whisk us off to far more tropical shores. I created the tag using the Tag & Bookplate die from Tim Holtz Alterations line for Sizzix.
I used Adirondack Colour Wash (Butterscotch, Sunset Orange & Red Pepper) to create the tropical colours . I used Seaside No1 plate stamping with a combination of the new Archival Inks (Vermillon, Monarch Orange, French Ultramarine, Veridan & Aquamarine).

For the bottle I used the Inspiration Jars plate stamping onto Clearly For Art (Studio 490) then trimming to size.

Finally I added the Philosophy Tag from the Ideaology range! ... I hope you have enjoyed this splash of summer. I will be back with my final project towards the end of the month. TFL. Gillian

3 birds in a row!-by Jennie

Hi, it's the boss again, but don't worry I won't be staying long..lol Just popped in to show you a hanging piece I made , which doesn't take long, and is just perfect for your Christmas Tree, or for any occasion really! I used 3 different sized Chipboard birds from Maya Road, These came from the Fancy Bird coaster, mini bird cages, and the bird keyring.
I coloured them using my favourite colour..blue! I took three different shades of Distress ink, and used the direct to paper, or in this case direct to chipboard. I loved how it came up different shades.

 
The stamp is one of Wendy Vecchi's swirls from here Botanical Art stamps, which if stamped randomly gives a great pattern. I inked them with Pearl Dabbber. Just make sure you use a rub it scrub it to clean the stamp before the paint dries!
The birds are joined together with Tim's Lace chain, and a few of his baubles to add a bit of bling! The pearly colouring in between the birds on the chain, is a new product which will be available on the website shortly , and is called Hot Tubez. Watch this space :))

If you would like to be in with a chance of winning this hanging birdie set, then just leave a comment on this post, add it to your sidebar for another chance and I will pick the winner next week on Friday 3rd December.
Have a very Creative day
Hugs
Jennie

The Hangman's Tree - By Hels Sheridan

Goodly Morning Peeps! Tis me, Hels, with yet more Hallowe'en stuff... I know, this year I have gone a bit Hallowe'en bonkers and today is no different... in fact... I have some "treat" news... yes, indeedily, the Spooky Pumpkins hanging ATC that was up for grabs last week now has a new owner. Using Random.org, I popped all the numbers into the mix, asked the nice man at Random.org to chose a number out for me... and the number picked is #11 - which belongs to the comment left by GINI. Please can you email me your deets and I will pop the ATC into the post for you :O))



So... today's spooktastic offering is made up from those divine Art Parts from Wendy Vecchi... now, I have spoken to Jennie about these here Art Parts... they are currently out of stock... however, if you give Jennie a call she will be able to take a pre-order over the phone - call 01795 531860. Right, business side of it done, I can wax lyrical about how I made this... well, what shall I call it? Erm... Art ...doesn't seem the right word to use... how about... hommage to all things spooky? LOL



I covered the Art Parts with papers from the Retro Grunge stack (I have to say... I LURVE this stack... mainly cos the papers are perfect for just covering stuff and not having to ink the whole lot... lazyness abounds aplenty LOL) Once the components were covered, I then went on to cut out a Picket Fence Alterations Die using Mountboard... this was coloured with Distress Inks and then curled and fashioned around the middle of the Art Part. Oh and I forgot to say... the Art Parts had a few of Tim Holtz's Hallowe'eny images stamped onto them too :O))



Next came the time consuming bit... I wanted some mini pumpkins... and haven't got any charms or embellies that would work... so I hit on the idea of making some... using Fimo! Now, Fimo and I have not had the best of relationships so imagine my delight when it moulded really well and turned into a pumpkin... never one to look Mr Ed in the chops, I decided to make a few more... and then got all ambitious and made some toadstools too. I have made some... Fly Agaric... there, aren't I clever knowing the proper name??? Not really, Mr Google helped me ROFL The skelingtons were a lovely RAK from Joanne and I knew as soon as I saw them that they were destined for the Art Parts piece that was in my head... so THANK YOU to Joanne... she is a sweety! Well, that's all folks... thank you for looking... have a grand weekend... TTFN

Hels x

PS - just remembered... if you fancy, you can click to receive an email newsletter from The Artistic Stamper... keeping you up to date with all the new arrivals and special offers too... the button is just over there on the sidebar :O))