Winter Wonderland

Hi everyone!

Enjoying winter so far? If so come and spread some wonderful winter cheer with us over at Fashionable Stamping Challenges!

Winter Wonderland

 

Of course it is another frame! I love making them - simply balsa wood strips glued into a frame shape. This one had texture paste stencilled through a damask stencil. 

It was then painted with Gesso, covered in a layer of Taupe Fresco paint, the excess was then wiped away with a baby wipe and then when the frame was dry Pewter Treasure Gold was rubbed over the top.

 The stamped images were from an Artistic Outpost set called 'Sleighride' To make the background I used Iced Spruce DI and Picket Fence DP on the craft mat, spritzed with water and then swirled the white card through the inky paint puddles. 

When dry I stamped the trees with Watering Can Archival ink. I then dabbed the trees with Picket Fence DP and sprinkled Rock Candy Distress glitter over the paint. When this was dry I added more texture to the snow effect by dabbing Rock Candy Stickles glue over the trees.

     A spritz of White Linen Dylusions spray gave a lovely snow effect to the sky

The girls were stamped with Jet Black archival ink. I then cut around them and stuck them onto the background after dabbing some Iced Spruce Di around the edges to cover cut white edges and also add shadows.

I like working on little details - so I couldn't resist some very fussy cutting with a craft knife!

I felt that the picture needed a border within the frame. So I got a sheet of white card and cut out a small border. I inked around the edges of the  border with Iced Spruce DI 

I stamped a lovely border stamp around it using Colourbox Platinum ink. I then added some Liquid Pearls in Platinum.

 As the title of the challenge is winter wonderland and there was a 'Winter Wonderland' stamp in the set it seemed only right to use the stamp on this creation!

 It was stamped with Watering Can Archival ink and the edges of the white card were inked with Iced Spruce DI. Silver brads were used to attach the card to the frame.

I decided to make some frosted winter foliage to decorate the frame.

 I got some of my favourite ivory roses and tore away some layers to make them smaller. I dabbed some Iced Spruce DI over the roses and spritzed with water to blend the ink. I dabbed some Iced Spruce DI over some holly and fern diecuts and then covered them with Rock Candy Distress stickles glue.A flourish was dabbed with Colour Box Platinum ink.

 I also added some beads - silver, pearls and crystals along with a crystal button

So there is my Winter Wonderland scene! I would love it if you came over to see what the rest of the team have made to inspire you 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 as one of our Catwalk Spotlights!

Hope to see you there!

I am entering this at Artistic Outpost November Challenge


 

Christmas Lights

Hi everyone - It is Sponsor Spotlight time again at Our Creative Corner. 

Our generous sponsor this month is Nicecrane Designs.  

 Join in the challenge over at Our Creative Corner to be in with a chance of winning a fabulous prize!

And here is a sneak peek of today's spotlight....

If you are interested in finding out what I have made and how it was made then hop 

over to Our Creative Corner

Hope to see you over there!

Always believe

Hi everyone!

We are getting into the Christmas spirit early over at Fashionable Stamping Challenges 

Christmas Tags

And here is what I made......

Oh, I found this so hard to make!! Sorry, but I am not in Christmas mode yet at all and I have been struggling to make Christmas creations as I try to keep ahead this year! Fingers crossed by the time I make our Christmas cake on 25th November I might be feeling a bit more festive.....

     Anyway I started out thinking it best that I keep it neutral - I had tried a few festive coloured tags but they were all awful - so back to neutrals it was. I did some wrinkle free distress with my favourite neutral inks - Frayed Burlap, Pumice Stone and Antique Linen......

I stamped around the edges of the tag with Potting Soil Archival ink using some script stamps and music stamps...I also added some foliage stamps...

Happy Christmas was stamped onto a separate piece of card which was then inked with Antique Linen DI and edged with Vintage Photo and Walnut Stain DI

The Santa image was stamped with Potting Soil Archival ink and edged with Vintage Photo and Walnut Stain DI's

I used some holly and flourish die cuts. I coloured the flourish with Walnut Stain DI and blended some Evergreen Bough, Mowed Grass and Walnut Stain DI's over the holly. The berries were coloured with Fired Brick DI.

The background tag was spritzed with some water and blotted with tissue

Twine was used to make a hanger and bow

Attached to one strand of twine was the word 'Believe' stamped with Potting Soil Archival ink and edged with Vintage Photo and Walnut Stain DI's

Hope you like my Christmas Tag! I would love it if you came over to see what the rest of the team have made to inspire you 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 as one of our Catwalk Spotlights!

Hope to see you there!

Where shall we go?

Hi everyone!

 I am back here today with some Steampunk. This month at SanDee and amelie's Steampunk Challenges we are asking you to travel with us.....

Steampunk Destinations

 Don't we all love to travel! Going to new places, learning about foreign culture, enjoying foreign cuisine, visiting wonderful sights all around the globe...is so exciting, isn't it!
There are a lot of destinations around our globe worth visiting. Think about capitals like Paris, New York, London, Venice, Vienna, Barcelona, Hong Kong, Kairo,....to name just a fraction. But also nature highlights or exceptional historic buildings can be destinations worth visiting....like the Niagara Falls, the Chalk Cliffs of Ruegen, Mount Everest, the Pyramids, the Eiffel Tower, Miss Liberty, and...and...and...
So whatever you associate with "Destinations" - it is what we want to see (steampunked of course) with your projects for our November Challenge

I chose to visit London...Quite funny really, all the amazing cities in the world and I choose the one closest to home! I do actually love London and I felt the images were right for a steampunk twist and taking a vintage view as well was very tempting - this is what I came up with.

I got a piece of card and did some wrinkle free distress with Frayed Burlap and Pumice Stone DI's. I then stamped over the card with various stamps including a music, script and postage stamps.

I then stamped some London buildings on card in Potting Soil Archival ink. I then cut them out and dabbed them with Frayed Burlap DI. I stamped a Victorian lady and gentleman and again dabbed some Frayed Burlap DI on the images and cut them out. When all this was done I arranged the images onto the card and glued them into place.

This was nice but it needed something else - a frame perhaps?
 
I did my usual balsa wood strips glued into place to form a frame. I then covered them with embossed 'Postcard' card and then painted it with Gesso...I had intended to leave it white - perhaps with a bit of Distress ink or dry brushed paint to 'age' it....But it looked wrong, so I decided to change the idea completely and I covered the frame with Antique Bronze DP.

When this was nearly dry (feeling still a little sticky to touch) I smothered it with French Roast Fresco Paint - my favourite distress/ageing paint. AS soon as the frame was covered I wiped with a babywipe.

  This removed the dark brown paint from the surface but left some in place and also in some areas it just began to lift the bronze off as well. This gave a really nice antique look.

    When completely dry I very lightly rubbed the surface with Classic Gold Treasure Gold to highlight the texture.

A Kraft flower was splattered with Picket Fence DP by just flicking the paint across the flower. A bronze cog was placed in the centre of the flower with a game spinner that was attached with a tiny screw.

A cogs stamp was stamped on the flower with Walnut Stain DI.

Two Bronze metal leaves were placed alongside the flower

Two Bronze metal leaves were placed alongside the flower

 I hope you like it!...and I do hope you will come over to see what the rest of the team have made and share your Steampunk Destination with us! Hope to see you there!

Birds of a Feather

Hello everyone!

 Today I am here to show you my creation for the new challenge over at Fashionable Stamping Challenges -

'Animals'

     I was hunting through my stamp collection looking for animal stamps and I came across these bird stamps from Artistic Outpost -  The sizes fitted the ATC format perfectly, so that is what I made....

I cut out some thick cardboard to ATC size (2.5in by 3.5in) and I swirled some Gathered Twigs, Vintage Photo and Frayed Burlap DI's onto the craft mat and spritzed with water. I swirled the card in the inks and then blotted with a tissue. The card was actually very absorbent so the inks were very dark. To lighten it I roughly brushed on some watered down Nougat Fresco paint.

      I used some Artistic Outpost stamps in Potting Soil Archival ink. First stamping the words and egg pictures onto tissue paper.

I had originally planned to add the tissue to the card, but in the end I decided to stamp directly to the card and paint the egg images with Fresco paint before sticking them to the card.

The bird was stamped onto card and inked with Gathered Twigs DI and a tiny bit of Peacock Feathers DI.

I stamped the birds of a feather in Potting Soil Archival ink and dabbed the card with Gathered Twigs DI and edged it with Walnut Stain DI.

 The edges of the ATC were distressed with a sanding block and inked with Walnut Stain DI

A little classic gold Treasure Gold was rubbed around the edges of the ATC

.......and a bit of Gold Cosmic Shimmer spray was spritzed over the ATC

Hope you like my ATC and I would love it if you came over to see what the rest of the team have made to inspire you 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 as one of our Catwalk Spotlights! 

I am entering this at Artistic Outpost November Challenge