Listen to your Heart - By Sioux Jenneys

Hello everyone! It's my turn again and I'm here to share a card :)

I read somewhere that you could probably make a flower out of almost any stamp...it might have been Wendy Vecchi but I'm not sure!

Anyway.....I thought I'd see what I could come up with so here's a little idea :)

1. Start by stamping the leaves (16 needed) using the solid leaf from the Flower Power Plate in Distress Inks Peeled Paint and Shabby Shutters onto thin card - don't over ink the stamp so that you can create a variegated look to the leaves and try picking up some of each colour on a few of the leaves.....cut out leaving a narrow border - you don't have to be precise :) as you are going to tatter the edges and ink with Distress Ink Brushed Corduroy.

P.S. I've had my cheapo paper distresser ages but you can get a brand spanking new T!m one here.

2. Stamp the heart from Stitchels Curly Dot Plate in Jet Black Adirondack Archival four times onto old book paper overlapping at the centre

- again it does not have to be precise it all adds to the effect when they are layered up!

3. Add a dot of Adirondack Dimensional Pearls in Butterscotch and Terracotta where the little dot is on the stamp

- how convenient is that!

4. Repeat steps 2 and 3 another two times so you have 3 layers of petals.

5. Stamp the flower from Stitchels Curly Dot Plate twice and again add the dots in dimensional pearls.

6. Make the background on the card by brushing Adirondack Dimensional Pearls in Butterscotch and Terracotta with a dry brush using a very loose motion in various directions until you have covered the card to your liking :)

7. Draw a square using a Sharpie pen leaving a gap at the bottom for your chosen sentiment

....I chose a Stampers Anonymous T!m one and stamped it in Versafine Onyx Black

8. Assemble the parts for a pleasing layout and glue a large press stud to the centre of the large flower.



Job Done!
:) See you soon!
xoxo Artyjen

Getting To Know... Tina

Morning Peeps

Time for another Creative Team interview, this time with our Colouring Artiste extraordinaire, Tina Barnett. Tina joined us at the beginning of September and her flair with a ProMarker is just perfect... and she really brings our Mabel Lucie Attwell designs to life... here's the grilling I gave her...

AS Introduce yourself, please tell us about yourself, you interests, likes/dislikes etc Hi I'm Tina, from Tina's Crafty Place. I am married to Darren and we have a beautiful dog called Tommy. I live in Kent and work as an accountant and tax adviser. I have been crafting all my life but paper crafting for about 4/5 years. I love to work with Promarkers and bring to life stamped and digital images. I sit and colour most nights lol! I love altered art and scrapbooking also. I like most things crafty :0) xx George Clooney, Robert Pattinson. :0) xx Dislikes................. this is hard as I am quite easy going so I'm not sure............. oh wait baked beans! I hate them :0).



AS What or who inspires you? In the craft world, people who inspire me are Tim Holtz and my friends, Hels Sheridan, Linda Elborne, Dan99, this is VERY true, not just because they are my friends but because they are amazing artists! I am lucky enough to be on some amazing design teams, the artists on them and my team mates inspire me so much too, I love working with their images. My personal inspirations are my husband and family. They are always there to support me and they are amazing.


AS How do you make a piece of art... what is the process? Oh this can vary. Sometimes I could be out and about and see a design or image on something, like a poster or cover of a book, sweet wrapper anything, and I just get an idea that pops in to my head. If I make cards, then I start by colouring some images so that I have a few, I then see what takes my fancy :0), I lay papers next to the coloured images, see if it is bright and moden or a vintage look and pick my papers and colours from there. I use my own layouts most of the time but I love to use challenge layouts too. This really helps if you have a block, it gives you somewhere to start. I then choose everything else, ribbon, embellishments etc.



AS If your Mojo goes on holiday, what do you do? Find a sketch from a challenge or look at a magazine.

AS What is your favourite technique? I love to colour! whether it be stamps or digi's, but I also love to use my melt pot and love to make jewellery with it :0)



AS If you were on a desert island and could only have 5 items of stash with you, what would you take? OMG!!! Don't say that to me I can never pack lite! Ok ok calm Tina, it's only a question...... ok ....can the complete range of promarker pens count as one?... I will take it as yes lol! number 2 would be images, 3 scissors, 4 card stock, 5 glossy accents............................. sorry it just can't be done, melt pot, paper trimmer, papers, ribbon, charms, ......................... sorry :0) xx
So... many thanks to Tina for letting us have a little nosey into her life... to see more of her amazing cards... click HERE... thanks for looking!!

Hels x

Leafy layers by Jennie

I haven't had a lot of time to experiment with the new technique first shown  by Wendy Vecchi using her Clearly for Art plastic, which will be available shortly in the shop (it sold out at Ally Pally)  However today in between getting ready for Port Sunlight show on Saturday , I die cut some Tattered leaves, and had a little play:))
I used Duralar which we sell in the shop, and has very similar properties to the Clearly for Art. You can die cut it, heat and shape it, and I also found that you can run it through the embossing folders! It works brilliantly! ( I always get ideas after I have finished making something and then run out of time!) This piece however doesn't show you this, as I tried it later after I had finished it. I promise I will do another piece next week showing this.



I alcohol inked up the leaves, and stamped them on the un-inked side with Black Archival ink, using the dotty background stamps. Then gently heat with a heat gun and mould over a glass or a pencil works brilliantly. The plastic will mould naturally when heating it, but you can manipulate it while warm.



I ran the postcard through Tim's Alterations spiders web embossing die , and coloured it with distress inks. A lovely plastic ( is it a dragonfly? ) creature from a toy shop, was used as a spider, since I still cannot find my little black ones.. come out , come out wherever you are hiding in my craft room!!! lol

I am entering this into our Layering it On challenge. Am I allowed to win?? I don't think so!! but please have go, we give away £15.00 worth of stamps every month.

I will be at Port Sunlight on Saturday demoing this technique along with metal embossing and anything else I can cram onto a tag! So please say hello if you are coming along.

Have an extremely creative day!

Jennie

Winner of the Rainbows Challenge!

I am a little late with choosing the winner of last month;s blog challenge, but I am sure you will forgive me? you will won't you? lol
I put all the entries in Mr Random.org and the winner is....drum roll please....

JACK

with this gorgeous piece!



Congratulations , Jack, Please email me  so you can claim your prize :))

Thank you to everyone who joined in, and don't forget this month's challenge is Layers, which you can enter here.

Have a very Creative day

Jennie 

Thank You CAS! By Sioux Jenneys

**Pssst... tis me... Hels... just wanting to say... a HUGE warm welcome to Sioux... we are very honoured that Sioux has joined our Creative Team... I will shut up now and hand over to Sioux who has made some DIVINE art for you to look at!**

Hello everyone! It's great to be here for the first time sharing what I love doing best with you all :)

I know it's not like me.....you know how very messy I can get don't you?!

But I thought this divine Gibson Girl from The Artistic Stamper deserved to shine on her own :) so this "clean and simple" card evolved.

1. Stamp the Gibson Girl 4 in Distress Ink Rusty Hinge onto watercolour paper for a bit of added texture.....tatter the edges and ink with Distress Ink Walnut Stain then blend Distress Ink Pumice Stone round the edges with Cut and Dry Foam.

2. Place the stamped square on the card front and lightly mark in pencil where the top and bottom corners are on the base card.

3. Mask off a portion of the Punk Plaid background stamp with sticky tape

.....ink it up with Distress Ink Brushed Corduroy
(I used black to take the photo so that it showed up better)

4. Take off the sticky tape!!!!
(Don't laugh...I've forgotten to do that important bit lots of times!)

5. Stamp the plaid over one of the pencil marks.

6. Repeat steps 3, 4 and 5

7. Add some Prima Pearls PM300692 and a sentiment of your choice.

Job Done!

I hope you liked my first post here :)
See you soon!
xoxo Artyjen

The Raven Triptych - By Lynn Stevens

When I was asked to be A Guest designer for the month of Oct. for The Artistic Stamper

I knew I wanted to create something really special for Halloween and I knew just the stamp that would do it. This Raven Airmail bird stamp was the inspiration for my piece.

Close up of The Raven.

left side

Right side.

I hope you enjoyed my Halloween post, now go get those spooky creations done.

Halloween will be here before you know it!

You can see more of my work on my blog Trash To Treasure Art

Lynn Stevens

PS... This is just Hels popping in to let you know that poor Lynn has been very poorly and from all the Creative Team we are wishing her a speedy recovery... lotsa hugs for Lynn...

Layering It On... The October Challenge

Goodly Morning peeps... THANK YOU all for your lovely colourful entries in the September Rainbow Challenge. The Winner of the Candy will be announced in a few days when Jennie gets back from the Artisan Show. I have chosen this months theme and you all know how I love to add layers to my projects... so the theme is... LAYERS!




I altered an Ikea photoframe by layering lots of strips of Nostalgic Tissue Tape over it so it was entirely covered and then colouring it with Brushed Corduroy Distress Ink. I made a little centrepiece using white card, coloured with more Distress Inks, this time; Mustard Seed, Spiced Marmalade, Barn Door, Broken China and Vintage Photo. I stamped a Tim Holtz sentiment - I love this one, it has to be one of my faves - and then adding some backgroundy sprigs using Pine Needles DI and a few butterflies using Rusty Hinge and Aged Mahogany DI's.



I used some Grungepaper, StaZon and Distress Inks to make some flowers - the stamps I used are: Flower Power, Flower Blooms and Flower Fever and then overstamped with lots of background stamps. I added a little dimensional butterfly using one of the new Steampunk Stamp sets - overstamping him with a lacey background. I cut a few leaves from the new Tim Holtz Tattered Leaves Alteration Die and embossed these with Texture Fades... colouring with Crushed Olive, Forest Moss and finally Aged Mahogany to get an autumnal look to the leaves... All of these layers were stuck together with Glossy Accents... gotta love that as a glue... I added a little gem into the centre of the flowers and popped a couple of pins from my stash behind to jazz them up a bit.




So... that is my entry... what will you make for yours? The rules of the challenge are simples...make a piece of art (it can be absolutely anything) including the theme... once you have blogged it (or added it to your Flickr or similar account), leave a comment here for us with a link to the place you are showing your entry, add your deets to the Froggy-link and we can come and see your entry. If you use Artistic Stamper stamps in your piece, then your name will be entered twice into the draw. The winner will be chosen at random and announced at the beginning of next month... the prize up for grabs is £15 worth of Artistic Stamper stamps of your choice, plus the KlingOn to mount them onto! Thanks for looking... have lots of inky fun!

Hels x