Christmas Surprise by Emma

Hi everyone...

Hope you've all had a great week and looking forward to the weekend. Well, if you're looking for inspiration for your Christmas cards or gifts, then I hope that I can inspire you with the piece I'm sharing today ~ my little altered matchbox, with a big surprise when you open it up! As always, I hope you love it...

To begin with I made my own matchbox from kraft card, measuring approx 7 x 11.5cm in size. I then cut pieces of cream card to fit the outside of the box, inked them with Old Paper DI and stamped each piece with the Music Background stamp. I distressed the edges of the paper with Walnut Stain DI before attaching them to the outside of my box. I then added a Idea-Ology Hitch Fastener on the front of the drawer, to enable you to pull the box out of the cover easily.

I then cut more cream card to fit the base and the sides of the box and again inked them with Old Paper DI before stamping the Santa image from the Mini Christmas 1 stamp set onto the base card. 

I coloured the image with Distress Marker Pens and then inked up the Snowflake stamp with Tumbled Glass DI and stamped the flakes onto all my pieces of card before attaching them to the inside.

I then raided my own stash of dies and used the Festive Greenery and the Tattered Pine Cone die from Tim Holtz for Sizzix to die cut card and coloured each individual die cut with Distress Inks, adding highlights of Rock Candy Distress Dry Glitter to each piece. I then added these to decorate the inside of my box, together with a small Bottle Brush tree and some fake snow before finishing the inside with a couple of Tim Holtz Chit Chat stickers.

To decorate the outside of my matchbox, I used the Tattered Poinsettia die from Tim Holtz, again from my stash and made a large bloom from cream card, inked around the edges with Distress Ink and spritzed with Biscotti Perfect Pearls Mists. 

I attached the flower to my box and added die cut holly leaves, inked with Iced Spruce Distress Ink and rusty wire coils, smeared some Rock Candy Distress Stickles over the top of the leaves and then die cut the number 25, painted it with PaperArtsy Snowflake Fresco Finish paint and covered the numerals with Rock Candy Distress Glitter.  

So, that's it from me for today...thank you so much for stopping by and I'll look forward to reading your comments! Don't forget we still have our Christmas challenge running until the end of the month, so if you would like to enter, with a chance to be the lucky winner, then just click HERE for all the details.

See you again soon...Emma x

Voyage by Emma

Hi everyone...

It's that time of the month again for me to share my latest post with you all and today, I decided to make a travel journal book cover. As always, I really hope you love what I've made!

To begin with I recycled some old cardboard packaging to form the cover of my travel journal, which I primed with gesso before painting it with Distress Paints. I always think it's a shame to cover up the background because I loved the look of all the colours of Distress Paint blending together but it had to be done as I don't think a painted background would've been of much interest!!!

Once the background was dry, I set about making my tags, which I swished through some Brushed Corduroy, Stormy Sky and Spun Sugar Distress Stain that I had put on my craft mat. I then blended the edges of the tag with Walnut Stain Distress Ink and added some Tumbled Glass DI through a Crafter's Workshop Stencil. Next, I added some interest to the tags, (which again got mostly covered up) with the following stamps: the ruler from A Stitch In Time by Katy Fox, Calligraphic Mat 12, Swirls, Splats and Dots and the Ink Blot Background.

Once the tags were complete, I attached a Idea-Ology File Tab to one of the tags, which I altered with Alcohol Ink and placed a Chit Chat Sticker inside. I added hand dyed seam binding to one tag and paper string to the second before attaching both tags to the background and die cut some cogs from chipboard using the Sizzix/Tim Holtz Gadget Gears die which I painted with Distress Paints and then added around the edge of the tags.

Next, I stamped the compass from the Tim Holtz Classics 1 stamp set onto Manila card and coloured it with Distress Markers. I inked and distressed the edges of the card and added it to my cover, together with the "Voyage" wording.

I stamped the stamps from the Katy Fox Carte Postale stamp set and added these to my cover. Then blended some more manila cardstock with DI's and stamped the quote from the Traveling Words stamp set and attached it to my cover with a Hinge Clip.

I finally added some Idea-Ology Mini Gears and tied a piece of paper string around the cover to complete it.

So, that's it from me for today and don't forget you still have plenty of time to join in with our Autumn challenge and the whole team are looking forward to seeing what you make and enter. For details, just click HERE.

Thank you so much for stopping by and I'm really looking forward to reading all your comments...see you again soon!

Emma x

The Roaring Twenties by Linda Ledbetter

Hello, crafty friends! This is Linda from StudioL3.com, back for my third and final project as Guest Designer for the fabulously lovely folks at The Artistic Stamper.

This three-paneled card features imagery from the beautiful 1920s Ladies Plate, part of The Artistic Stamper's costume category. I just adore these elegant ladies. I stamped each of them onto Ranger's Specialty Stamping Paper using Jet Black Archival Ink, then colored them with Distress Markers. The mottled backgrounds were created by scribbling Distress Markers onto my non-stick Craft Sheet, picking up ink with a Water Brush and "pouncing" the bristles onto the paper.

I mounted each image panel onto a piece of heavy cardstock that I'd painted with Tarnished Brass Distress Paint, the mounted the three onto a piece of black mat board. Finally, I stamped the text onto plain white cardstock, outlined the edges with a black marker, and attached the words using dimensional foam tape.

It's truly been an honor to be The Artistic Stamper's guest designer, and I'm so grateful to Emma, Jenny and everyone at TAS for their hospitality! Thanks to you, too, for sharing your time with me. I hope you have a spectacular day!

xo,
Linda

The Secret Garden by Emma

Hello everyone!! For my second post of August, I thought it would be nice to hold onto Summer as long as we could...so, I decided to make this canvas featuring butterflies and flowers. As always, I've taken lots of pictures to show you all the details and I hope you love what I've created...

To begin with, I covered my 7" x 5" canvas with Tim Holtz Composer Tissue Wrap before adding the colour using Distress Paints. I chose Picked Raspberry, Salted Ocean, Bundled Sage and Antique Linen and once applied over the top of the wrap, I gave them a good spritz with water before allowing them to drip down the canvas. Once I was happy with the way it looked, I added Black Soot around the edges and applied Picket Fence onto one of the Swirls, Spots and Splats stamps from the A5 set, to add some texture.

Next, I added some small torn off strips of Sketchbook Tissue Tape onto the canvas and applied some drips of white acrylic paint, which completed the overall background to my piece.

To make the roses, I used Tim's Tattered Florals die from Sizzix and then coloured each of the die cuts with Salted Ocean and Picked Raspberry Distress Inks before making them into dimensional blooms and giving them a quick spritz with Biscotti Perfect Pearls Mists, to add a subtle shimmer.

I stamped the gorgeous large butterfly and some of the smaller butterflies from the Insects and Butterflies No.1 stamp plate onto a piece of white card and coloured them with Distress Marker pens, adding "dotty" highlights to the wings of the smaller ones, using a white pen.

I shaped the wings of each of them and added twisted wire for their antennae. I then arranged my dimensional blooms, added some die cut leaves using a die in my stash and the butterflies onto the canvas and finally, attached the Butterfly Words quote using an Idea-ology Memo Pin.

So, that's it from me today! Thank you so much for taking the time to pop by and visit and I can't wait to read all your comments. Don't forget you still have time to enter this month's challenge which is all about Postcards, Travel and Holidays and we'd love you to share all your wonderful creations with us!! All the details of the challenge are HERE.

See you all soon and hope you have a wonderful weekend full of creativity!

Emma x

Love Art...Love Life ~ by Emma

Hello everyone!!

Hope you've all had a fabulous weekend, so far and the sun is shining for you... Today, is my first share of this month and for my post, I decided to make a little ATC sized gift card holder. There's lots of pics to show all the details and I really hope you all like what I've created...

To make this card holder I began by cutting pieces of chipboard to size and mounting it onto a piece of Manila cardstock which measured 22.5 x 10cm. When placing the chipboard pieces onto the Manila cardstock, I left a very narrow gap between each of the pieces, where I would need to score in between to make the folds of my folder. I neatened each of the edges by folding the Manila cardstock onto the inside of my folder and sticking them down with a strong adhesive tape, before covering the inside of my folder with a piece of Kraft cardstock.

Once the booklet folder was complete, I covered the outside of the folder with my favourite Weathered Wood, Antique Linen and Frayed Burlap Distress Paints, blending the colours of paints together until I was happy with the look. I then dabbed some Picket Fence Distress Paint onto an old lid and stamped randomly over the surface of the cover to create the rings of paint. 

Once the paint had dried, I then used the large ledger stamp from Katy Fox's Numerical Plate and stamped random areas of the cover in black Archival Ink before punching a small hole into the front cover, where I then threaded through some seam binding, dyed with Distress Stains and which has to be long enough to wrap around the entire folder and then tied.

Once the outside of the book was complete, I then moved onto the inside and to begin with, I made a small pocket from some more Manila cardstock and stuck this onto the middle section of my folder. I then die cut lots of cogs from chipboard using the Gadget Gears Sizzix die from Tim Holtz and stuck these onto each panel of the folder and then once again, covered the entire surface with Vintage Photo, Antiqued Bronze, Picket Fence and Black Soot Distress Paint.

Once the paint was dry, I then used a smaller stamp from the Numerical Plate and stamped down the spines of my folder.

I added some Treasure Gold onto the cogs and around the edges of the book to age it and then to finish the inside of my folder, I added some old screws and bolts that I had in my crafty stash, together with a Prima embellishment, again from my stash.

To decorate the cover of the folder, I stamped the Goose Grease image onto Manila card, coloured it with Distress Marker pens and blended the surface of the card, with Old Paper Distress Ink. I distressed the edges of the card and made small tears into the card and then used Walnut Stain DI on them. I then mounted the image onto a piece of kraft card and attached it to the cover of my folder, together with some pieces of Idea-ology, which I highlighted with Treasure Gold and some Film Strip Ribbon.

Finally, I added the word "Love" down the outside spine of my folder and then used an Idea-ology Journalling ticket and stamped a Tim Holtz quote onto it before adding it, with a Starbucks gift card to the small pocket inside my folder.

So, that's it from me for today and I hope I've inspired you with my little giftcard holder. I'll look forward to reading all your comments and thank you so much for stopping by to take a look at what I've created.

Don't forget you can still enter our monthly challenge which this month, is all about Postcards, Travel and Holidays and we would love it if you would join us and show us what you've been creating!! Click HERE for details.

See you all again very soon and have a lovely day...Emma x

*Edit* ~ Chipboard measurements as follows:

2 pieces x 9.5 x 7cm

2 pieces x 9.5 x 2cm

1 piece x 9.5 x 3cm

Money Bird by Emma

Hi everyone, Emma here and it's time for me to share my first piece of this month. For this piece I decided to work on wood and and use the gorgeous Money Bird stamp from Neil Walker. As always, I really hope you love what I made and I've taken lots of photos to show all the detail...

...and here's what I used and how I created this piece. To begin with I chose to use a block of wood, approximately 10 x 21cm in size. I primed the wood with Gesso and then added some texture onto the wood using a stencil that I have in my stash and some Paperartsy Grunge Paste. Once the paste was dry, I added the colour using Adirondack Paint Dabbers and then highlighted the paste with some Treasure Gold Gilding Wax. 

A quick blast with the heat gun to dry everything super quick because I'm very impatient and can't wait before I then added some Tissue Tape all around the sides of the block of wood. Once that is all finished, I'm then ready to add my layers of stamping.

I used the Dots Background stamp and stamped this directly onto the wood with white acrylic paint and used the Calligraphic Mat 11 and stamped the script using black Archival Ink. Another blast of heat and then I'm ready to stamp the Money Bird.

First, I stamped the image of the bird onto the painted wood with black Archival Ink. I then stamped three separate images of the bird onto watercolour card and coloured these using Distress Marker Pens.

Once happy with the shading, I cut each of the layers out but cutting away sections so that I could decoupage the bird onto my wood. I layered each of the sections using silicone glue and added highlights onto the tail feathers and plume, using a white gel pen. I also used the gel pen to colour in the flowers onto the image that I stamped onto the wood.

Next, I made some handmade paper flowers using the Sizzix/Tim Holtz Tattered Florals die for the roses and also I used some paper flowers in my stash to create the other flower. I sprayed all the separate flower pieces with Dylusions Ink Sprays in Vibrant Turquoise and Fresh Lime and then made them into dimensional blooms. I spritzed each of the blooms with the Perfect Copper Perfect Pearls mist.

Once the flowers were completely dry, I added them to my wooded block together with some seam binding that I dyed using Distress Stains. 

To complete my piece, I added an Idea-ology Word Band, some Film Strip Ribbon and some pins and wooden embellishments that I had in my stash. Finally, I used some cotton reel spools, which I painted using the same colours as I used on my wooden block and added these as feet.

So, that's it from me for today and thank you so much for taking the time to visit to see what I've created. I'm really looking forward to reading all your comments.

I'll be back later this month with another piece and don't forget we have a fabulous challenge throughout June and we would love you to join in. The challenge is all about Makes For Men and just click HERE for all the details.

See you all again soon...bye for now!

Emma x