So Many Toys, So Little Time... By Tina Barnett

Hello,

I made this card using a Mabel Lucie Attwell Design, available HERE . The name of this little boy is Jolly Day Out. The image is coloured using Pro-markers.



I have used Nestabilities to make the shape of the card, but instead of mounting the top card which holds the image to match the edge I have raised it a little to give a different shape.

This image is wonderful for shading, the car can be coloured in so many ways, I have chosen blue, but it shouts out for so many different shades.

The image is edged in liquid pearls. The card edges have been edged using acrylic paint.

I have then added some ribbon and a quote, along with some buttons and just a touch of bling!


This is one of many stunning images by Mabel Lucie Attwell available HERE. Thanks for looking.

Tina

Bamboo Bling! By Nicky Cresswell

Hello my lovelies I'm back.. Did you miss me??

Wow september is just whizzing by isn't it.. soon be christmas!!!

So with that in mind i though i'd share an easy little gift idea... All you need are 5 bamboo tiles, some mica power paints, some glossy accents, a fun selection of stamps.. for this project i used the smallest birds from the 2 new birdie plates Birds of A Feather & Free as A Bird . 10 pretty beads {i've used round swarovski crystals} and 2 lengths of thin clear elastic.

Start by colouring your tiles with the mica paints.. {the mica comes in powder form but can be mixed with water to create lush glimmery paints} I have chosen to work with a rainbow colour scheme to fit in with this months 'RAINBOW' challenge of which details can be found HERE 

Once your painted tiles are dry, stamp you selected images how you wish.

I used black stazon ink, and i highlighted with an inkssential white pen.

Before you proceed make sure your inked images and the white highlighting is completely dry.

Right so now all your tiles are bone dry.. you can give each one a protective coat of glossy accents, I have only given a coat to the fronts of the tiles where i stamped. {the back side i just rubbed/buffed the excess paint off so just a hint of colour was left} But you can coat this side too if you wish.

All thats left to do once your glossy accents is dry is to thread all your tiles together.

Add a spacer bead between each tile as you thread the elastic through and once you have both ends tie tightly.. left over right - right over left knot {i'm sure there is a tec name for that knot but i don't know it lol}

{a good tip when using elastic is to stretch it first, this stops it from becoming all loose later on}

And there you have it, A nice hand crafted gift for family or friends.

***

Before i go i just have time to announce the winners of my ATC giveaway draw..

{Winners selected by random.org} 

Steampunk ATC goes to 9. Piddawinkle

1st Punk ATC goes to 15. Shazza

2nd Punk ATC goes to 18. Sid

Thank you to everyone who entered and took time to leave comments, they truly are appreciated xx

Can the winners please mail me there snail mails {my e'mail can be found on MY BLOG}

Right thats your lot from me today 

But do come back again tomorrow as we have a brand new creative team member joining us...

Getting To Know... Hels

Morning Peeps... another interview with the Team... today it is my turn... so I am sitting with two hats on today, the first hat is the Jeremy Paxman styleee one *a serious interviewer hat* and the other one is my own air brain hat LOL So, without further ado... Here's my Q &A :O))

AS Introduce yourself, what are your interests, likes/dislikes etc?
My name is Hels Sheridan and I am married to Grim and we have a furbaby, AlfieCat, who wraps us around his little paw. I used to be a Train Driver but was medically retired nearly two years ago after a bad car accident left me with a serious back injury. Since then I have been trying to cope with the changes in my life and thank heavens I do crafting - it has kept me sane! My interests are varied... I love anything crafty, vintage, distressed and slightly battered about. I love to read - always having my nose in a book when I was a kid has kind of moved into adulthood and I will read anything... so long as it isn't horror - I am a big scaredy cat and can't watch horror films either LOL I love nature and flowers and used to do a lot of gardening but the old war wound stops me doing as much as I would like. My favourite food is chinese and I hate peppers... come near me with one and I will literally run a mile, the smell, look and taste of them... yak!




AS What or Who inspires you?

Oooh, that is an easy one... there are so many people that have inspired me over the years but the two who make me want to go and make something are... *you will never guess this one ROFL* Tim Holtz and Wendy Vecchi. I love Tim's unique style, his ideas, his products... and Wendy, well I just love her style... and her stamps LOL Thing is, I could start a list now of talented crafters and still be here in three hours, tapping away and adding names... I guess I find a lot of inspiration from just hopping around blogs and seeing other peoples work.



AS How do you make a piece of art... what is the process?

Ah, now that one is difficult... I am a bit of a perfectionist and I usually start off with a blank piece of paper and sit in my Room of Stash and look at stash I have... and then sketch out how I want the finished piece to look. If the stamping is wonky it either goes in the bin or I try and cover it up with something. I very rarely just sit and play and make stuff... I find that I get fuddled and nothing works... so if I am making something and it doesn't turn out how I wanted it to... in the bin it goes!



AS If your Mojo goes on holiday, what do you do?

Erm... this happens every so often and I get really miffed because it is like I can feel an idea on the tip of my tongue, yet it is locked away... so I generally have a tidy up and put stuff away, then I look through my stash and if I am really bad, I will look at magazines for idea's.




AS What is your favourite technique?

Cor, it is hard to just pick one out... I love using Distress Inks and splooshing them with water... I love using my Melt Pot and making a mess with UTEE and Beeswax... oh and I love distressing stuff so it looks older than it really is... I can't answer with just one technique... how bad is that when I wrote the questions! ROFL




AS If you were on a Desert Island and you could only take 5 items of stash with you, what would you take?

First of all, I am classing "items" to be anything... so I would take Tim Holtz and Wendy Vecchi, Ranger Industries, Advantus Corp and Stampers Anonymous... SORTED! Five things... and I would have a never ending supply of stash I love... and if I lost the old Mojo, I could have a class with Tim and Wendy LOL


So, there you have it, a peek inside my addled brain... hope you enjoyed the interview and thanks for looking!

Hels x

'Create Blooming Art!' Wall Hanging by Lucy Edmondson

Hello, me again!

The Artistic Stamper has these very sturdy little frames in stock, which are ideal for wall hangings. They have a shallow indent in the middle which is perfect for either tiny dominoes or Stampbord pieces. I thought it would be fun to combine it with these very versatile Floral Blooms stamps, which are brand new but which I think I will be reaching for many times!

INGREDIENTS

Floral Blooms Stamp set
Collage Frame 10 x 10 cm
Black Archival Ink
Crafty Notions Mica Spray
Tim Holtz Distress Crackle Paint in Picket Fence
White Inkssentials Pen
Tiny Dominoes
Florist Wire or Thin Ribbon
Permanent Marker Pens
Button
Idea-ology Flower Embellishment
Big Bite or Dremmel
Brilliance Ink Pads or Similar
Strong adhesive tape




INSTRUCTIONS

1. Paint the frame with the Crackle Paint, and when dry spray with Crafty Notions Sprays.

2. Arrange the dominoes so they form a square that fits the centre of the frame, turn over and attach together with the red line tape but don't remove the backing just yet.

3. Turn the dominoes over and sponge with a suitable ink that dries on glossy surfaces, such as Brilliance, and heat set.

4. Stamp the flowers and leaves as shown, overlapping the dominoes. Use the white pen in the centre of the tiny flowers and add some colour with the permanent pens. Add a button to the centre of the largest flower. Remove the backing from the tape and stick in place.

5. Stamp the tiny flowers around the edge of the frame, adding some white pen and permanent marker pen. Stamp the words 'Create Blooming Art' on the bottom edge.

6. Use a Big Bite (thank you very much to my friend Jack for the loan!) to make two hanging holes in the top of the frame and thread with florist wire. To finish, add a metal flower taken from a Primark necklace, which was a wonderful idea of Minxy's!

Thank you for looking!

Lucy

Winner(s) of our first Challenge!

We are absolutely thrilled that so many people joined in with our first challenge! So many entries and all so deserving of a prize, but sadly only one can win the £15.00 prize of stamps.. so please step up to our special "you are a winner" podium....

TAnn

This is Tianne's gorgeous piece.for the challenge Something Old, Something New.

I so loved all the entries that as "The Boss", I just had to choose two more to win extra special prizes of one of our stamps of their choice, so please step up to the podium

Daniele

 and finally

Kaylou

If you can email me please, I can arrange to have your extra special prizes sent to you.

You will also find a extra special blinkie for your blog too down the side which you are welcome to grab for your blog:))

Our new challenge is now up for you to enter, and we love seeing what you create, so grab your inks, paints and stanps and make it colourful!

Have a very Creative Day!

Jennie

Enveloping Steampunk by Sarah Anderson

I was thrilled when Hels and Jennie asked if I'd be a guest designer here on The Artistic Stamper Creative Team Blog, especially in light of the new cogs and gears backgrounds Jennie has brought out!  I just love them :)

I have some little brown envelopes which I discovered fitted an ATC inside, so I decided to go with a Steampunk theme and make a little envelope book.

I took a Mushroom and a Lake Mist Adirondack Acrylic Paint Dabber and smudged paint onto the envelope and stamped with the sequin waste open background stamp and dots.

I always do this on a sheet of copier paper too, which then gives me a co-ordinating background on which to stamp then cut images from.  The Cogs Background from the 'Time' collection of stamps is brilliant for working with a Steampunk theme.

And Tick Tock, in the same collection, has these wonderful clock/watch faces with an open centre, which look great combined with the cogs background.

After collaging some stamped papers onto my envelope I then partially stamped the large moth from Insects and Butterflies Collection No 1.  This provides the detail for the moth's antennae.  I then cut out a plain white moth from copier paper and collage it on top.

I decided I wanted more of a contrast in this piece, so used Pool and Eggplant Adirondack Acrylic Paint Dabbers to colour the moth.

I decorated two more envelopes in similar fashion,

and the front cover [made of folded card to fit the envelopes].  I used one of Tim's Idea-ology clock faces and some watch parts to add an authentic feel to my book.  Vintage Watch Collection parts are available here at The Artistic Stamper.

The book is made from 3 envelopes, hinged together with folded card covered with paper.  Now I just need to make some ATCs to live inside!!

Sing A Rainbow... A New Challenge!

Morning Peeps... wow, what a first month we had and I would like to say a HUGE thank you for all your lovely comments, entries to the challenge and support! The winner for the August challenge will be announced on Friday (Sept 3rd) so please be sure to check back. In the meantime, I have a brand new theme for September's challenge... which is ... RAINBOWS. So, you can use rainbow images or colours... to enter, all you have to do is make a piece of art, add in the theme and if you use Artistic Stamper stamps on your piece, your name is automatically entered twice into the draw... which means you could win £15 worth of Artistic Stamper stamps plus Kling-On to mount them onto.

For my entry I made a couple of cards using Alcohol Inks and Glossy Cardstock.

Card 1


Using the colours of the rainbow in Alcohol Inks - I always remember the order with the old saying... Richard Of York Gave Battle In Vain... so I used Red Pepper, Sunset Orange, Sunshine Yellow, Clover Green, Sail Boat Blue, Cool Peri and Purple Twilight Alcohol Inks. I started by drawing a line of ink onto the applicator tool felt, going through the spectrum so I had a pad full of lines - make sure not to get the lines touching each other too much otherwise the colours will muddy - then I dragged the tool across the glossy card in a sweeping movement, so the lines transferred to the card, repeating this until the card was covered in stripes, then I turned the card around and did the same again so I made a plaid effect background.




I then made some more coloured glossy card, this time by dropping ... erm, drops of ink onto the card, then blasting the inkspots with air from an aircan - you know the type that you can get to clean out nooks and crannies on your keyboard? Well, these are FAB for giving an inksplat look. Once this card was covered, I stamped the birdcage - from the Free As A Bird set onto it in Black Archival ink. A tip when using Archival on glossy card - heat dry it otherwise fingers smudge the image :O)) I cut out the birdcage and then made a collage on the plaid background using more of the birdy stamps.I added a piece of ribbon and stamped the little wren onto more of the splatty card, cutting him out and popping him onto silicone glue so he stands proud. The finishing touch was adding a little Idea-ology birdy on a jump ring.



CARD 2



Is a diddy card... using the same principal of making a stripey background, but this time keeping it stripey... I stamped a mini sentiment from Tim Holtz collection and then added a border - with more Tim stamping on it... again in Archival ink.I stamped two of the Flower Blooms flowers onto offcuts of the stripey card and layered them together with a Prima gem in the middle.



The birdies in the background are from the Birds of a Feather set and are stamped again in Archival and then I just dragged the inkpad around the edge of the card to finish it all off.

So, if you fancy a challenge and want to join in, please add your name and pic to the linky below - the challenge will be open until September 30th - and the winner announced shortly afterwards. Also, please can you leave a comment when you add your linky entry please? That way I can make sure I don't miss visiting you :O)) Thanks for looking... have a goodly day...

Hels x