A place for everything - Full post

Hello everyone!

        Welcome back to my full post of the third and final creation I did for The Artistic Stamper. I think this was my favourite creation and it was a lovely way to complete my Guest Designer spot.

I really enjoyed making this creation - it had it's trials and mishaps but that made it even more wonderful.....I hope you like it!

I decided that for my final feature at The Artistic Stamper I would do a step-by-step...I love seeing these as it really gives a great insight into how someone works (in my case amid lots of mess!) I don't do as many as I would like because I get so involved in the creative process that I forget to take pictures, but this time I tried to be very aware of the camera as well! This is a very picture heavy post I am afraid - so grab a cuppa!

       This started out as items destined for the bin (recycled!) but I decided to put them to far better use!

after decorating these 'rubbish' items with stamps, paints and inks....(and some other craft stash items)

       I turned it into this......

 And here is how it was done....

First I prepared the tins and toilet roll by painting them top and bottom and inside with Nougat Fresco paint.

 I then cut some card to fit around the items

 I began the decorated card by stenciling some Antique Linen Distress paint - For this one I used the Crafters Workshop 'Art is' stencil.

 I didn't cover the entire piece of card....you'll see here I dabbed randomly across the stencil

 I dried the paint and then began to apply some inks....I blended some Weathered Wood, Frayed Burlap and Vintage Photo.

 I then stamped some words - 'Create' and 'inspire' across the card using Weathered Wood DP and Frayed Burlap DP

 Then I stamped some images using the set and stamped them with Frayed Burlap, Vintage Photo and Weathered Wood DI

These contrast wonderfully with the vivid Potting Soil Archival ink, which is what I used to stamp next. As you can see these all build up wonderful layers with the paint acting as a resist but the archival ink covering the paint....I never tire of doing this!.....

.....and good job too - because I had two more to do! Sorry, no pictures of those because I thought that would be a bit repetitive - I used the same technique, same set of stamps and inks but used different stencils to add some variety - the harlequin and damask stencil was used for the largest tin and for the smaller one I selected flourishes.

So now the pots were completed but I felt they needed something else...so I added some crochet ribbon in ivory and my favourite coffee coloured strand of crochet lace.

Now I could have finished here, but I was having so much fun. At one point I had intended to attach the tins to mount board and cut around the base and cover the bottom of the containers with lace to hide any rough edges. As usual with my projects they usually evolve at some point and when I was trying to de-clutter my art cupboard before Christmas I found a wooden tray - I have had it for years and I think it originally had wooden die cuts in and I had been using it as a save box for little scraps. I suddenly thought this could be a drawer! I could have the pots attached to a drawer...

So I got out the balsa wood and got to making a box. 

While the box was drying I decorated the tray - which for some strange reason I had stained bright orange many years ago. I painted it with a couple of coats of Nougat Fresco paint.

 I wanted it to be decorated in some way and so got an ornate metal corner and cut two pieces off

and stuck them on to the edge of the tray with Glossy accents glue.

 When dry I painted a couple of coats of the Nougat Fresco paint...

 then I sanded them lightly to reveal hints of the metal underneath.

 A metal drawer pull was attached to the front of the drawer.

Now to decorate the inside of the drawer. I did the same stamp and ink layering that the containers were decorated with.

Then I began to decorate the outside of the box...I wanted to get the kind of built up layers of cracked peeling paint that so many vintage items have...I wanted it to look like another layer just got painted over cracks. So I began to layer crackle glaze and paints, sanding down when slightly damp to reveal the paint underneath.

When it was dry and I had achieved the effect I wanted I sanded the whole box lightly and dry brushed Chocolate Pudding Fresco paint around the edges.

Then began the 'putting it together'!

I got some rolls of hemp string from my craft stash and added that to the collection. A reel of crochet lace was added - the wooden reel was already a gorgeous grey wood stained effect, I dry brushed it with some Snowflake fresco paint and then stamped the words 'Create' and 'inspire' with Picket Fence Distress paint very lightly. I didn't want it to be bright white, I wanted a barely there image.

Some glass vials were used to hold gold micro beads and some gold Frantage. A few wooden cotton reels were wrapped with embroidery cotton and a couple of pearl pins tucked into the threads.

A rusty heart, glitter heart and crochet flower from my craft stash were used to decorate the containers.

My button collection was hunted through to find lovely beige, brown and blue toned buttons and were placed into the smallest container.

and here it is - complete with some items from my craft equipment. A place for everything, and everything in it's place

    Thank you so much for being here to see the final creation I did for The Artistic Stamper. I hope you liked it!

Reading in the dark

Hi everyone!

    Today I am bringing you the new challenge over at Fashionable Stamping Challenges. We would like to see your creations feature -

Silhouettes

I was a bit stuck with this one at first - mainly because I had no idea where to go with colour - then I thought why not just do a monochrome creation - forget colours!

I used a Flonzcraft silhouette stamp and stamped it in black Archival ink onto a book page (Northanger Abbey - if you are interested!) It seemed an appropriate background for a silhouette of a book reader!

I cut an oval from embossed card and then painted it with silver acrylic paint before dabbing with some french Roast Fresco paint - I always use this paint to add a distressed effect to surfaces, because it is transparent it doesn't cover the original colour and it adds such a gorgeous tarnished effect.

I then brushed the embossed card with Pewter Treasure Gold to highlight the embossing and really bring out the metal effect.

The stamped image was then stuck behind the oval frame

I used TH Tattered Florals die cuts to make the roses. Before constructing the roses I scrunched each flower to break down the card and make it more pliable. When they were creased and bendable I very roughly applied Brushed Pewter crackle paint. I wanted the petals to be streaked with paint so it was a very quick 'smoosh the paint on' job rather than a neat application.
 

When dry and crackled I dabbed Black Soot DI all over the flowers. The crackle paint resists the ink and the ink also darkened the cracks. Then I constructed the roses.

Because I had crumpled the card before constructing it was easier to fold and bend the petals and glue into place.

I painted some die cut leaves with London Night Fresco paint and then covered with Decoart Crackle glaze. When dry I rubbed French Roast Fresco paint into the cracks to highlight them before wiping the leaves clean.

Silver wire was used to make the hanger.

 Why not come over and join us this time at Fashionable Stamping Challenges 

 Remember we are a stamping challenge so please feature a stamped focal image on your creation.

  You could be the winner of $20 to spend at Flonzcraft Stamps! And of course you could be picked at one of our Catwalk Spotlights!

Love is in the air - Full post

Hi everyone!

 This was my second creation for my Guest Design month in February at The Artistic Stamper. With my appearance being scheduled for the 14th I had to make something for Valentines Day. I chose to make a romantic themed altered book. I had made altered books before, but this time I wanted to make something slightly different and after much thought I decided to turn it into a box. This was a lot of fun because I had to figure out how to do it - and the journey of discovery of what works and what things you 'should never do!' is always something I really enjoy!

I had a small hardback book and tore the pages out (and saving them for future projects!) being careful not to tear the binding at all. Once I had just the cover I needed to decorate it.

 First I used some plain white paper - and covered it with Antique Linen Distress Stain. I dried it with the heat gun and then creased the paper very slightly to add some texture. I wanted it to look old....like something found in an attic telling the story of ancestors....I then got to work using several stamps following the theme of travel.

I stamped the images using from the label and Carte Postale set using Potting Soil Archival ink and adding some Distress inks blended around the edges. Using Vintage Photo and Frayed Burlap added a lovely shabby aged effect. I also stamped some of the images using Walnut Stain Distress ink

I glued the paper to the book cover using Matte Multi-Medium and left to dry while I worked on some leather effect paper.

For this I used the same white paper that I used for the cover and this time I swiped Forest Moss, Walnut Stain and Gathered Twigs Distress Stain all over the paper, then spritzed with a little bit of water. I scrunched the paper up in my hands and then unravelled it (very carefully!) I dried this with a heat gun and used Distress inks - Walnut Stain and Gathered Twigs with the blending tool to fill in any gaps of colour. I then wiped across the paper lightly with the Walnut Stain pad. This adds very intense colour to the creases. I then dried it carefully with the heat gun again.

I cut a strip of this leather effect paper to size for the book spine and glued it into place with a light coat of multi-medium and then began to construct the panel that would be used to hold the book box shut. This was just a sheet of card covered with the leather paper and glued onto the book box with Glossy accents glue.

 A Tim Holtz bookplate was used to decorate the front

 and a metal clasp was attached to the card with brads to hold it shut.

The inside was decorated with plain white paper...this had been stamped with flowers from Botanical 3 in Victorian Velvet Distress Ink. I randomly stamped the images and then dabbed a bit of the ink over the roses to create a subtle faded effect. I used Shabby Shutters Distress Stain to add colour to the leaves and then used Antique Linen Distress ink to fill in around the flowers. A bit of Walnut Stain Distress ink around the edges added a bit of a shabby vintage look. When this was done I glued it to the inside of the book cover.

Now to construct the box. I cut three pieces of balsa wood to size, used some wood stain to match the cover of the book and glued them into place.

To decorate the inside cover I used a Gibson Girl stamp and the portrait from Men's Plate 001. I stamped them with Potting Soil Archival ink and then decided that I wanted them to look like old photographs. I used Faded Burlap, Gathered Twigs, Walnut Stain and Antique Linen Distress Stains to paint the stamps with vintage sepia photograph colours. When this was done I dabbed them with embossing ink and did a light coat of clear embossing powder to look like the photos were behind glass frames.

The frames were cut from embossed card and painted with Old Gold Fresco paint which was then dabbed with French Roast Fresco Paint. I glued the two photographs side by side and then began to add some decoration from my craft stash....

A rose was dabbed with Vintage Photo Distress Ink, some leaves covered in Mocha Mousse Fresco paint and Rock Candy glitter glue. A flower die cut was painted with Antique Linen Distress Paint and then edged with Tattered Rose Distress Ink. A few metal embellishments were added including a key and envelope. I finished off the decoration with some crochet lace that was lightly dabbed with Vintage Photo Distress Ink and some ivory hemp string tied into bows.

I decided that the box should hold some memories - perhaps of travel, romantic destinations, letters, postcards and photographs. All of them were tied up with peach ribbon and I couldn't resist adding a tarnished brass key - perhaps somewhere there are more intriguing memories locked away?......

One of the stamps resembled an old faded photograph when stamped with Potting Soil Archival ink and covered with Vintage Photo Distress Ink.

I also used the map background

The rose was stamped with Potting Soil Archival ink and coloured with Tattered Rose Distress ink. The leaves were painted with Shabby Shutters Distress stain and the background of the picture was covered with Broken China Distress ink before being edged with Vintage Photo Distress ink. Calligraphic Mat 6 was used to add script around the edges.

    Thanks so much for being here to see my Valentines day creation at The Artistic Stamper - I really hope you like it!