Against the tide

I'm just sneaking under the wire with a postcard for this month's swap on UKStampers. Our theme this month is "windows".

I went for a specialist window - a porthole. It must be on a submarine since there's a fish just outside! The fish is stamped on acetate and painted with Precious Metal paint and then flipped so you can see the detail of the stamping. The base is metallic silver which made it hard to photograph since I either got glare off the acetate or the silver bleached out to white!

I've layered up the piece painted with silver acrylic with a die cut hole, the stamped acetate and a piece painted with various turquoise acrylic paints for the background. A ring cut with Nesties makes the porthole frame and I made dots with glue for rivets and let them dry hard before painting. I used some pewter Perfect Pearls to add streaks to age things a bit.

The wording is done by printing onto the shiny side of a transparency sheet with an inkjet printer, laying it onto the painted surface and then burnishing with a wooden stick. You need to remember to print wording in mirror image if you do this but it works well, particularly for a slightly grungy look where you don't need a super crisp result!

A quick spray with Krylon Matt sealant to give it a bit of protection and it's done.

Stamps:
Under the Sea (Darkroom Door)

Ink:
Brilliance by Tsukineko (Graphite Black)

Paper:
Smooth white
Acetate sheet

Other:
Class ic Circle Nestabilities by Spellbinder
Acrylic paints (silver and various turquoise blues)
Precious Metal paint by Viva Decor (Pearl and Azure)Perfect Pearls by Ranger (Pewter)

Thanks for stopping by - hope your weekend is a good one!

Paris Birthday

Waltzingmouse Stamps recently released a whole bunch of new sets and I may have been tempted into buying one or two!

My first project with them was this birthday card for somebody who spent time in Paris as a nanny in an earlier phase of her life! The graphic style of this Eiffel Tower stamp is great and there are so many elements in the set to mix and match. I used the Art Nouveau border stamp to create a little strip of patterned paper and trimmed round the bottom to shape it round the pattern.

I hand cut the label shape and its mat too - I don't own Spellbinder Labels 25 which is what it's designed to coordinate with but it's a pretty easy shape to hand cut.

Stamps:
Paris Nouveau and sentiment from Say it Loud (both Waltzingmouse Stamps)

Paper:
White and black

Ink:
Adirondack by Ranger (Pool and Stream)
Versafine by Tsukineko (Onyx Black)

Other:
Corner Chomper by We R Memory Keepers

Thanks for stopping by!

Floral gift tag

Here's another guest project for the Chocolate Baroque Design Team blog.

While I had the Copic and Prismacolor pencils out to color the image on the seed packet I shared last week {here if you didn't see it and would like to}, I also coloured the floral spray from the Fragrant Honeysuckle set and turned it into a pretty tag. I think this would be a lovely addition to a gift of a bunch of flowers - perhaps for Mothers Day?

I stamped and cut out with a Beaded Oval Nestability die and then carefully cut the beads off, cutting round the flower head and leaves that extended beyond the basic oval shape. I coloured the image with Copics and Prismacolor pencils and then sponged ink round the edge. I stuck the coloured piece onto a second beaded oval die cut and finished with a simple ribbon at the top.

I used a Copic marker to colour white silk ribbon on this and the seed packet project - it's a great way to get a match for the colours in your image.

Stamps:
Fragrant Honeysuckle (Chocolate Baroque)

Paper:
Cryogen White

Ink:
Adirondack by Ranger (Espresso)
Jenni Bowlin ink by Ranger (Soap Powder)

Other:
Copic markers
Prismacolor pencils
Beaded Ovals Nestabilities by Spellbinder
Silk ribbon

Thanks for stopping by today!

Spring flowers

It's time for my contribution to Tando's March challenge where the theme this month is SPRING! We'd like to see an actual spring or two in your work.

I immediately thought of spring flowers (I'm always one for a pun if there's one to be had!). My flowers are mounted on springs from a big selection box I keep with my crafty supplies on the basis they might come in useful. I then added extra springiness by coiling green craft wire to make some foliage for my arrangement.

The "vase" for my flowers is actually one of the shapes from the hot air balloon set. I added a small cog (this really is just one cog, I split the thickness in two as I didn't need it to be as substantial as Tando chippie always is) and painted with silver acrylic paint. Before the paint was fully dry, I pressed scrunched up kitchen foil over it to texture it. A bit of watered down black acrylic paint gave it the final touch.

The piece has a little stand at the base that's made with epoxy repair putty - super-useful stuff! You can usually find it in the pound shop too so it won't break the bank. I used it to attach the springs to the piece as well as it's strong and easy to press objects into when they're a tricky shape and/or potentially have a small contact area if you're trying to glue them down.

Supplies:
Hot Air Balloon grab bag and Cogs grab bag (Tando Creative)
Paper flowers
Springs
Green craft wire
Silver and black acrylic paints
Screw head brads
Spellbinder snowflake dies
Epoxy repair putty

Thanks for stopping by! Don't forget there's a fab prize up for grabs in a random draw at the end of the month if you fancy putting a spring in your step and joining the challenge - details here.

Seeds of Friendship

I've been playing with some delightful Chocolate Baroque florals - you can see my guest post on the CB Design Team blog here.

I used a computer generated seed packet "framework" along with the stamp. Glenda has made a pdf of the packet available to download, you'll find the link in the blog post if you'd like a quick starting point to make something similar - it's free and includes some instructions for putting the project together.

Here's the inside of the project, an insert with a fold at the bottom that slips into the stamped sleeve. You can stamp a sentiment or handwrite a message to the recipient (or both!) on this. The ribbon through the top keeps it closed as well as looking pretty.

Mine has an actual packet of flower seeds inside as a little gift but you could use it for any small, flat gift item (jewellery, for example, or it would make a good way to dress up a garden centre gift voucher).

Stamps: The Rose Tree (Chocolate Baroque)

Paper: Smooth white

Ink:
Adirondack by Ranger (Espresso)
Jenni Bowlin by Ranger (Soap Powder)

Other:
Copic markers
Prismacolor pencils
Computer and printer
Silk ribbon
Circle punch

Thanks for stopping by - do take a look at the Chocolate Baroque Design Team Blog if you get chance, there's lots of inspiration there!