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

A fleeting glimpse...

Hello all, Alison (butterfly) here with a pair of tiny hangings offering a fleeting glimpse of the creatures I'm sure are at least partly responsible for all the faerie mythology down the ages (though obviously there are real faeries to be found too, if you look hard enough).

I used some of the backgrounds I created a while back using Dylusions sprays and plain old rock salt and table salt.  If you want to see more about how they were made, you can find out here.

And it wasn't a massive leap of imagination to link the gorgeous images from the Insects and Butterflies plate with the two quotes - each available singly from The Artistic Stamper.

I stamped the butterfly in Olive Archival, and then clear embossed it for that magical shimmer you get when it catches the light.

I used a water brush and some paper towel to lift some of the Dylusions colour away from within the wings, just to make them stand out a little more from the background.

The quote - by Rabindranath Tagore - has long been one of my favourites.  I stamped it on a separate piece of glossy card, that I'd used to mop up some ink at some point, and which toned in rather well with the salty background.  And then I mounted it on some cream mesh to give it a bit of extra definition.

The dragonfly got the same treatment as the butterfly, though I had less luck with lifting the colour away since the webbing on his wings is so dense and intricate.

And this quote, I've just discovered, is from a beautiful sonnet called Silent Noon by Dante Gabriel Rossetti (full poem at the foot of the post - I know I don't usually do quotes other than at Words and Pictures, but this one's irresistible!).

I added some other images from Insects and Butterflies.  I love this snail - almost invisible in the undergrowth...

... and these two grasshoppers, perched and ready for action.  There's also a busy bee, going about his business.

I added little bit of Ivory Frantage embossing powder around the edges for some added sparkle and definition.

And I was happy to find some paper ribbon that matched, so I threaded that through my golden eyelets to join the panels together and to create the hanging mechanism.

Thank you so much for stopping by today.  Don't forget to come and play in our August Challenge - share your Postcards, Travel and Holiday themed projects to be in with a chance at the prize draw at the end of the month.  See you soon!

Ingredients used:
Artistic Stamper stamps: Insects and Butterflies, Butterfly Words, Dragonfly Words
Dylusions Sprays: Calypso Teal, Cut Grass, London Blue, Vibrant Turquoise, Fresh Lime, Dirty Martini
Manila ATCs
Archival Ink: Olive
Wow Embossing Powder: Clear Gloss Superfine
From stash: Frantage Ivory, Paper Ribbon, Eyelets, Salt

Silent Noon

Your hands lie open in the long fresh grass, - 
The finger-points look through like rosy blooms: 
Your eyes smile peace. The pasture gleams and glooms 
'Neath billowing skies that scatter and amass. 
All round our nest, far as the eye can pass, 
Are golden kingcup-fields with silver edge 
Where the cow-parsley skirts the hawthorn-hedge. 
'Tis visible silence, still as the hour-glass. 

Deep in the sun-searched growths the dragon-fly 
Hangs like a blue thread loosened from the sky: - 
So this wing'd hour is dropt to us from above. 
Oh! clasp we to our hearts, for deathless dower, 
This close-companioned inarticulate hour 
When twofold silence was the song of love.

Dante Gabriel Rossetti

Blooming Art Canvas by Alison (Craftytrog)

Hello Stampers! I'm here again, to share a canvas with you today.

I used a 7x5 inch canvas board, which I first prepped with Studio Gesso.

Next, I added some scraps of book paper, & stamped the flourish from the Flourish Swirls A5 Plate, using Sepia Archival Ink.

Then I used a brayer to apply Aqua & Pool Paint Dabber. Just enough to cover the canvas, without obliterating my stamped swirls.

I stenciled some hexagons, using Pool Paint Dabber, & some DecoArt warm white paint.

I randomly stamped the script from Caligraphic Mat 11 with Sepia Archival, & the Mini Lattice Wire with Teal Archival.

Then I stamped the stems(3), flowers(3) & words from the Flower Blooms A6 Plate, using Sepia Archival. I cut them all out, edged the words with Sepia, & glued them to the canvas with Studio Matt Medium. I applied Matt Medium all over the canvas, but brushed lightly so I didn't smudge the background stamping.

I finished my canvas by inking the edges with Vintage Photo Distress Ink, & adding some turquoise buttons & a gem.

Thanks for looking,

Alison xxx

Ladies Album part 2 by Titbelsoeur

Salut les vacancières, c'est Titbelsoeur qui vous écrit !

My last post was about this fabric book I made for the first time in my life. And I must admit I am pretty satisfied of the result, for a first attempt ! 

I have made all the pages the same way : randomly sewing pieces of fabric, AND on each page a Lady stamped on a small square of drawing paper.This was a good opportunity to play with my various stamps from the Artistic Stamper, faces and backgrounds !

First I stamped the lady's face, masked it, and then stamped over it. I have chosen to use Gibson Girls, but not only. I have also stamped more contemporary women, like Collage Art, Age Solid , Happy Girl or Kiki 

The various background stamps come from : Encyclopaedia Botanica, A Stitch in Time,
Numerical plate, Journaling Words, Time and Keys ...

Here they are :

 I had a very good time making my first fabric book for you, and I hope you like it,

I also hope I gave you a terrible desire to do the same ! 

Thanks for stopping by, I am like always looking forward to reading your comments !

A tout bientôt !

Titbelsoeur

Alice text ATCs: By zuzu

 

I don't blog hop very often as I find I prefer not to accidentally see something, then forget I saw it and think I thought of it myself. But on occasion, i am referred to a cool blog post by a friend or craft colleague.  So I was over looking at a cool altered bottle on a blog and i found myself wandering down the pages. I came across a great idea for ATCs using book pages and i have adapted it. the original blog i saw the idea on is well worth a visit. lots of quality crafting. its Angelica's blog and you can find it HERE....

Simply cut out a pile of ATC sized bits from book pages (in this case an old alice book would have been cool but I dont have one, so I used what came to hand in my old book pile on the craft table.0

you can use as many or as few pages as you like and you can glue them, tie them, add eyelets, sew them.... whatever. Here I punched a couple of holes in each bundle of pages, and used some jute string to join them.

I stained the edges with ink and stamped the main image on a sheet of paper from the book, that had no text on it. I coloured in my images lightly then cut them out and glued them on. the White rabbit ATC has a pocketwatch stamped directly on to the text paper and then a cut out rabbit stuck on over it.

I only tied them together on one edge because i liked that they were self supporting and could stand up by fanning out the pages.

Stamps Used:

Mabel Lucie Attwell. "cut off her head"
Mabel Lucie Attwell "white Rabbit"
Pocket watch from the "time and keys" plate

Unique Self by Sioux Jenneys

Happy August everyone!
I don't know about you but I make backgrounds in my journals and then it's ages before I ever complete them! So here is what happened to a background that was ready and waiting to go :)

1. I made the background using a combination of Archival inks, Distress Inks and Adirondack paint dabbers. Using the graph paper background in Distress faded jeans and fantasy border in Archival sepia.

Adding Swirls in paint dabber, splats in Archival crimson and dots (from swirls, splats and dots!) stamped in a very random way!

2. I did not have the words I needed but made them up by stamping other words from journaling words 1, 2 and 3, creative art thoughts, and a q from Dance A5 that contained the letters I needed.
They were then cut apart, pieced back together and mounting on some black card. These were then attached to the background with glossy accents.

3. The very quirky but very cool Kiki was stamped to the side in Archival black.

Hope you get the chance to finish an old background in your journal :) See you again soon!

xoxo Sioux

The Winner of July's Challenge

Hi, and welcome to one of my favourite months of the year! I love August, and the weather is balmy and warm, with the odd thundercloud, but best of all it is holiday month :) Of course as usual I am wittering on, and all you really want to know is who has won last month's challenge which was Ladies day. I used Mr Random.org to pick a winner from all the amazing entries and he picked number 33... so please step up to the podium.

  Chris from PearShapedCrafting

 with this great piece of art!

Chris, please email me so you can choose your stamp prize :)

Thank you to everyone who took the time to join in the challenge and if you hop over here, you can see the most wonderful art for our August challenge , which is Postcards, Travel and Holidays. Perfect for this month! See my wittering wasn't so bad..lol We are looking forward to seeing your creations.
Have a creative day
Hugs
Jennie