Live for Today

Hi everyone!

Welcome to another FSC Challenge! Over at Fashionable Stamping Challenges this time we are challenging you to feature -

People

I couldn't resist using one of my favourite Gibson stamps from Flonzcraft! If you are going to stamp images of people these are some of the best! This image is available on this large sheet of gorgeous stamps or if you only want this image it can be bought separately here....

I stamped the image in Potting Soil Archival ink and then  stamped a quote using Jet Black Archival ink...Usually the quote is one of the focal items but this time I wanted it to blend in a little 

I then covered the image with some Weathered Wood and Vintage Photo DI and edged it in Walnut Stain DI.

The base for the tag is one I had made a while ago while messing around with gesso experiments. I was using stencils and gesso as resist and I then applied the gesso thickly to a stencil and created  a print. 

Then when dry I dabbed some Weathered Wood and Vintage Photo DP and spritzed it with some water and allowed the colours to blend.

I dabbed some Weathered Wood DI to a doily and stuck this to the top and bottom of the image.

 

I attached the image on some card that was covered with Vintage Photo DI and stuck this onto the main tag.

I covered same die cut blooms with Weathered Wood and Vintage Photo DI and attached some buttons

Some twine was used to decorate the top of the tag

and some lace was added to the bottom

Hope you like it!

I do hope you will come over to see what the rest of the team at Fashionable Stamping Challenges have made to inspire you this time...

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!

Happy Crafting!

Laura xxx

At the Seaside

Hi everyone!

     I decided to get out the box of long forgotten Alcohol inks and give them a go in this summer themed creation.

     I don't work much with Alcohol inks and I have never really mastered them -So they sat on the shelf...time to give them another go...

I dropped some alcohol ink drips onto the craft mat - using Lettuce, Meadow, Stream, Pool and Denim. I swirled some glossy white card into the ink and the effect was quite dark. I squirted some blending solution onto the inks left on the mat and swirled more card into the ink

This time the effect was better and I really liked it. There was enough ink to swirl another piece of card into it - always use up inks on the mat!

I used a stencil and dabbed some blending solution over it.

Then I used one of the pieces of alcohol inked card  as the base of the card.

I stamped some shell and seahorse images from Crafty Individuals onto a piece of alcol inked card. I cut them out and stuck them onto a piece of white card that was them inked and stamped with Black Soot DI.

A piece of card was covered with Evergreen Bough DP and formed the base of the card.

A chit chat sticker was added

                                 Quite a rare CAS style creation - well it is as CAS as I can get!

                                                                  Hope you liked it!

                                                                    Happy Crafting!

                                                                             Laura
                                                                               xxx

Old Favourites

Hi everyone!

     It is time for another challenge over at Fashionable Stamping Challenges today and the subject this time is....

Old favourites

Time to get out an old, forgotten but favourite stamp....

It was hard to choose one - It is always the same isn't it? We have so many stamps that often some get totally forgotten - So how do you choose one? 

In the end I decided to go for a stamp set that I adored from the moment I first saw it - Old Grist Mill by Artistic Outpost. I have always loved the photo quality images, the peaceful scenes, the gorgeous sentiments....it all makes up a winner of a stamp set for me.

Sadly, I haven't used it as much as I had hoped to. I have used the quotes a few times, but the images haven't had as much use as I had hoped and I figured that that made them perfect for this challenge...They are a firm favourite, but I have left them forgotten for too long.

The last time one of the stamp images was used was nearly a year ago...and in fact the image used here today has never been used before....

I decided to add to the challenge by opting for techniques that I had long forgotten too...the alcohol inks I bought in August 2013 (but had only been used once since then) had been sat on the shelf for too long.....It was time to change that too....

First I got some glossy paper and swirled it into a puddle of Lettuce and Ginger alcohol ink that had been diluted with blending soluction.

I stamped the image of the bridge using Jet Black Archival ink

I also coloured some more glossy paper with Lettuce and Ginger Alcohol ink, sometimes dabbing the ink with the felt covered blending tool and sometimes swirling the paper in ink. I then stamped images of the leaves and flowers on these pieces of paper using different coloured archival inks

I swiped some Frayed Burlap Distress paint across some card in straight lines to create a wood effect. I then cut it into strips and stuck it to mount board that had been painted with Raw Umber Acrylic Paint. I left gaps so it looked like wooden planks.

A hole punch was used to make four tiny circles of card. These were painted with Antiqued Bronze Distress paint and sprinkled with Vintage Photo Distress embossing powder. I then pressed an old plastic credit card into the embossing powder to make it look like a rusted screw head.

   I stamped one of the quotes onto card that had been covered with Old Paper Distress ink

 The other quote was stamped onto card that was covered with Lettuce Alcohol ink

The flowers and leaves were arranged at the sides of the picture with a button on each side.

And there it is - finally I have used the image of the old bridge and used some alcohol inks again!!!

I do hope you will come over to see what the rest of the team at Fashionable Stamping Challenges have made to inspire you this time...

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!

Happy Crafting!

Laura xxx




I am sharing this over at 'Show us your AO art' this month

Eyes Tested

Hi everyone!

     I am here with another challenge over at Sandee and amelies Steampunk Challenges 

Eyes Tested

I decided to make a tag for this and to experiment with inks for a background.

 For this tag I chose Rusty Hinge, Tumbled Glass, Gathered Twigs and Walnut Stain distress inks. I used the blending tool like a stamp, inked it up and pressed it onto the tag. I 'stamped' lots of blocks of colour close together and sometimes overlapping. 

Then I spritzed it all with Copper Glimmer spray and let the colours run and merge

When dry I stamped the tag all over with a cracked paint stamp from the Andy Skinner industrial stamps 

 Then I splattered the tag with some Evergreen Bough Distress Paint

Then I stamped randomly with a french script stamp (that I found down the back of the stamp drawer while hunting for 'Eye' stamps)

A gears stamp from the Artistic Outpost set Industrial Backgrounds was used in the corner

 Then I began to stamp the eyes...various stamps were used inc -

Stampers Anonymous - Classics no 5

Flonzcraft - Gibson Girl 16 and Vintage Machines Engravings

Artistic Outpost - Generation Redux

 I stamped the eyes in Jet Black Archival ink and then cut then to size. I inked the card with Gathered Twigs DI and arranged them on the tag

I stamped the words "The Windows to the soul" on card and inked this with Gathered Twigs as well

I then stuck the words onto the tag and outlined them with Pumice Stone distress marker and added some rustic scribbled lines with a permanent fine tip marker

Dark brown hemp sting and a rusted rose was used to decorate the top of the tag

And so here it is - my 'Eyes Tested' tag.....

Hope I have inspired you to come along and dip your toes into some Steampunk....

Remember, if Steampunk isn't your usual style....we do love to see entries with just a hint of steampunk too!

Come over and see what the rest of the team have made to inspire you!

Happy Crafting!

Laura 

xxx

 

Patchwords

Hi everyone!

       Sometimes I want to do crafts, but I am not in a very ink and paint mood. This was one of those times. So I got out some printed papers - I adore them and have a huge hoard of them...but they always sit in the drawer not getting used, because my main fascination is for ink and paint...

     Today I was interested in the papers....(and some stamping and painting crept in too)

I got out a stack of papers that I love and have been hoarding for ages. Time to use them - let them be free!!! I cut squares from the pattered paper intending to make a patchwork themed design...

I also cut some squares from Ivory card too and stamped them with various favourite stamps using Jet black Archival ink

I dabbed the edges of each piece with Walnut Stain DI and then I arranged them onto a piece of card and stuck them down

 I cut a heart out of embossed card using a heart die from Paperartsy. This was covered with frayed Burlap DP and wiped off with a baby wipe.

A piece of lace was wrapped around the heart. A wooden button was painted with Raw Umber Decoart Media Acrylic paint and a stamped clock image stuck to the button. Glossy accents glue was added to the clock face to appear like glass.

Various chit-chat stickers were inked with Frayed Burlap DI

A piece of hemp string was used to hang this creation up.....

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

Happy Crafting!

Love from

Laura xxx

Rust and Crackle

Hi everyone,

    Here is a card I made - messing around with crackle and rust....

  First I covered a piece of tissue paper with every script and text stamp I have. I used Potting Soil Archival ink and covered the tissue paper completely.

   Then I stuck this tissue paper to a piece of card and covered the tissue with a coat of matte medium

   I had just got some Decoart Crackle paint and was having a lot of fun seeing what effects I could get....

    Here I got a palette knife and scooped the paint out of the tub and smeared it randomly across the card. Thin in some places, thicker in others. I just simply swiped - I didn't try to level out or smooth the paint at all.....it stayed where it landed....

When dry there was a huge variation in crackle from huge cracks to tiny.

    I then covered the card with layers of Antiquing cream - first Patina Green, then English red oxide and then Raw Umber. Because they can be wiped away they should be fixed with varnish between coats - but here I wasn't too worried about the effects - it was all play really and seeing what would happen.........

   I cut a heart shape out of card and dabbed some Evergreen Bough Distress paint on it. 

the I covered it with Vintage Photo DI

      Then dabbed with some Raw Umber acrylic paint then sprinkled with Vintage Photo Distress embossing powder.

I wrapped the heart up in some rusty wire and attached a chit chat sticker that had been dabbed with some Vintage Photo DI.

Hope you like it!

Happy Crafting!

Love from Laura 

xxx