Sunday 25 May 2014

A Warm Welcome

Hi everyone,

A 'Sneak peek post here for you! 

Over at Our Creative Corner it is my turn to show you a Sponsor Spotlight! 
Crafty Individuals are our generous sponsor this month and I have used one of their gorgeous stamps in my creation today...




     To see the whole thing and find out how I made it, just hop on over to Our Creative Corner!

Hope to see you there!


 photo temp3_zpsf37f8b2d.png
Follow on Bloglovin

Tuesday 20 May 2014

Time for Tim

Hi everyone!

       I don't usually join in with the 12 Tags challenge. Don't get me wrong, I really like them and I do try to check in and see what is happening - it is just that usually I don't have the items that are being used and time is often not on my side.

       This month I got lucky! I am having a little break from blogging, but still doing a bit of crafting - taking the time to have some play rather than focusing on DT deadlines. Mostly the things I am making are going into future blog posts (or the bin!) and I am catching up showing older work on here at the moment. So my time is free during this month and I peeked in at Tim's blog to see what he was making this month and I loved the tag! I don't have the ShadowPress word that he used but I did have some embossed words....and I do have embellishments! Well, like everyone else I hoard those and it would be good to have a chance to use them....


     The one thing I didn't have was Tim's papers - I will get them at some point but for now I had to improvise. I have many patterned papers but I wanted this tag to be made with only TH products....so I decided to make the backgrounds myself.

     I got a tag and swirled it in some Faded Jeans DI and Frayed Burlap DI that had been spritzed with water on a craft mat. I adore wrinkle free distress so I knew it would make a good background. I made some more with off cuts of card in the same inks.


I blended some Gathered Twigs DI around the edges of the tag and stamped a flourish stamp in the same ink at two corners


I stamped some images from the Haberdashery stamp set in Potting Soil Archival ink and then cut the out.


I used a sanding block to distress the edges but chose not to ink them - I preferred to leave the edges shabbily white.


The embossed word was cut out and covered in Frayed Burlap DI


    I selected some metal TH embellishments and stuck them onto several pieces of stamped card.




 One stamp left over became further decoration when I cut out the butterflies and stuck them onto the tag too
























 A butterfly was stamped with Antique Linen DI onto a book page and cut out. It then had Frayed Burlap blended around the edges. I added a Chit Chat sticker that had been dabbed with Faded Jeans DI and edged with Frayed Burlap DI




  I decided to have a word made from the Label Letters stickers. I was going to attach it to a background and then add it to the bookplate, but the stamp I used for the main background is so gorgeous it seemed a shame to cover it.

A brad was used at the top of the tag along with a strip of tape measure printed linen ribbon which was dabbed with some Frayed Burlap DI





   Hope you like it! Thanks so much for being here!



 photo temp3_zpsf37f8b2d.png


Thursday 15 May 2014

Live your life


Hi everyone!

      Still focusing on my new goodies from Ally Pally here today! Alison and I shopped and shopped and had such a great time! As soon as we arrived we visited Andy Skinner and Mark Gould on the Decoart stand and well, we loved everything! Andy showed us the new Antiquing cream and was explaining about the products and before we knew it we had a bag full of the new Decoart Media Antiquing cream, crackle paste, Americana Decor paint and Liquid glass.

     Here is where I used the Antiquing cream - you are going to be seeing this a LOT on my work. They only had the white left on the Sunday that we were there, but I have plans to buy them all!

     Also I stopped by the Visible Image stand and managed to buy a few stamps. I bought Time after Time and Grunge Flourish I am such a fan of these stamps, they are fantastic!


     So sunny yellow....not a colour I use very often. My Scattered Straw DI is virtually unused.


 I got a tag and using Scattered Straw DI and a little Gathered Twigs I did some wrinkle free distress on the tag. Then I used the 'Shine' Memory Box stencil. I just used the Scattered Straw DI again for this as I wanted the effect to be quite subtle.


Then I used the 'Rings and Puddles' stencil and used Tumbled Glass DI for that.

 Then onto stamping. I used Gears, Clocks and the crackle from the Time after Time stamp set using Potting Soil Archival ink and randomly stamped the images around the tag.


I also included my standard favourite script stamp from Paperartsy.

The numbers stamp and the word 'Time' from the Visible Image set was stamped using Evergreen Bough DP



I cut the heart out from embossed card and covered it with Evergreen Bough DP and when dry applied some of the white Antiquing cream. When this was dry I wiped some of it away with a damp cloth and then blended some Walnut Stain DI around the edge of the heart.



A spritz of Polished Jade Dylusions spray (another buy from Ally Pally) 


  I stamped the quote onto card that had been covered with Wild Honey and Tumbled Glass DI.


An eyelet was placed at the top of the card, dabbed with embossing ink and sprinkled with a little Tea Dye Distress embossing powder to give a subtle rusty look and a piece of twine was added. I finished the tag by blending some Gathered Twigs DI around the edge of the tag...



Hope you like it! Thanks so much for visiting, hope you come back soon!


 photo temp3_zpsf37f8b2d.png
Follow on Bloglovin

Sunday 11 May 2014

Industrial Strength


Hi Everyone!

     Yet another tag! I have been simply playing this month...practicing some techniques and just having fun really! And of course the best way to do that (in my view) is to play around with tags....because then you aren't focused on any other technical things - you can just devote yourself to decorating to your hearts content!


 And that is what I did here......


 A tag was swirled in a mix of Weathered Wood, Picket Fence and Frayed Burlap DP's spritzed with water. A memory box stencil - Texture Shine - was painted with Weathered Wood DP.


I covered the tag with a little Frayed Burlap DI and then added some Frayed Burlap DI through a numbers and letters stencil


.......and some Frayed Burlap DI through the dot fade stencil.


I added some Picket Fence DP through the TH Splatters stencil


 Using the Industrial Backgrounds Artistic Outpost stamps set, I began to decorate the tag. I stamped with Frayed Burlap DI and Potting Soil Archival ink to add a variation of brown tones. I also used a Platinum dye ink to stamp some gears and cogs..this added a nice subtle shimmer to the tag.



    Some tissue tape was added along with a metal cog
























The remainder of the DP that had been on the mat from the tag was used to cover a piece of card and became the base for the quote. First I stamped some cogs and gears in Platinum ink  and when the quote was cut out I edged it in Frayed Burlap DI.


The top of the tag had a brown hemp string and some tissue tape tied around it.








 


Hope you like my Industrial Strength Tag! Thanks so much for being here - Hope to see you again soon!



 photo temp3_zpsf37f8b2d.png
Follow on Bloglovin

Wednesday 7 May 2014

Green with Envy

Hi everyone!

   Today we are Green with Envy - purely because I bought a LOT of Dylusion sprays at Ally Pally and among them there was Fresh Lime (a colour that always scared me too much to buy it, but I really like it now!) and Chopped Pesto - a gorgeous green colour I was desperate to buy. I also couldn't resist buying the Ground Coffee....and several others as well!! ;o)


    For these tags the new Greens and Brown were used. I spritzed the two tags with water and then covered one with random sprays of Fresh Lime, Chopped Pesto and Ground Coffee. Then I placed the second tag onto the sprayed one and pressed them together.

   After drying I used some Gathered Twigs DI through the Memory Box 'Shine' stencil onto the tags and then using the same ink I used the 'Rings and Puddles' stencil.





















Then I began stamping. I was so lucky to find a load of Artistic Outpost stamps at Ally Pally and I grabbed three gorgeous sets at a very good price! I LOVE a bargain! For this tag set I used Generation Redux - which is a set I have been wanting to have for a long time!

I stamped a portrait on each tag


Then I used Ephemera Backgrounds, choosing the Postcard logo stamp and stamping in Fern Green Archival ink.


 I also added in the fern stamp from the Generation Redux set, stamped with fern green Archival ink


And of course, as always I have to use my favourite Paperartsy script stamp in Potting Soil Archival ink - I use it so often it doesn't even go back in the packet anymore and it isn't stored with my stamps...It sits on my work desk because I use it on everything!


I cut a strip of card and spritzed it with Fresh Lime and Chopped Pesto Dylusions spray and dabbed with a little Gathered Twigs DI before doing some spritz and flick. The words 'Think and Wonder' from the AO set of the same name were used with Potting Soil Archival ink and added to the tags.


I dabbed some embossing ink around the tags and sprinkled with some Hunter Green Frantage embossing powder - bought several of those at Ally Pally too!


An ornate gold button was added to the top of each tag with a twine loop























........and there we have the 'Green with envy Tag twins'! Hope you like them!



 Thanks so much for being here to see what I have made!

 photo temp3_zpsf37f8b2d.png
Follow on Bloglovin