Time for PaperArtsy

I'm delighted to be guesting with PaperArtsy today where this fortnight's theme is "time". Here's a wee sneak peek of what I decided to make with PaperArtsy stamps, paints and Grunge Paste. Pop over to the PaperArsty blog if you'd like to see the whole thing, it would be lovely to see you there!

Can you hear the wheels turning?

I've been playing with some new chippie shapes from Tando Creative - cogs in two different styles and sizes.

I managed a bonus project from these! I'm loving all the embossed metal that's around at the moment but I've been trying not to add another dimension to my papercrafting addiction by buying the moulds etc! I did have some sheet aluminium in my stash though and I own paper stumps for colouring so with the application of a little imagination, my chipboard cogs enabled me to make this ATC! I just laid my metal over the shapes (I did one at a time), rubbed over with the paper stump to get the basic shape to show through and then embossed fully with the tip of the stump. Easy peasy and you get to use the shape itself for something else :o)

Supplies:
Chipboard Cogs by Tando Creative
Aluminium sheet by AMACO
Train timetable stamp set (Cornish Heritage Farms)Ferro paint by Viva Decor (Graphite)
Chipboard ATC
Silver embossing powder
Black acrylic paint
Spring from inside a video cassette
And the something else I made in this case was this wall clock...

I bought a cheapo clock (£3.99 in Poundstretcher) a while ago with the idea of tarting it up for my craft room. The cogs seemed perfect for the project! This is a 30cm clock so you can see that the cogs are a decent size.

I dismantled the clock and pulled off the bright white plastic face. I used that as a template to cut a circle of watercolour paper which has a nice texture to it. I stamped some sheet music and some crackle and then used a Tim Holtz mask to sponge over for the clock face on the right.

The clock surround was really a bit on the nasty side - bright chromed plastic. I gave both it and the cogs the same kind of treatment to give them a pitted and corroded look. I gave them a coat of embossing powder (actually UTEE in the case of the surround) and then slathered black acrylic paint on there, let it dry and then rubbed it off the high spots. If you use a single coat of embossing powder or UTEE over a reasonably large area it tends to give an "orange peel" sort of texture which is perfect for ageing with acrylic paint like this.

Here's a little detail shot for you so you can see more of how that texture works out. I love how the teeth of the smaller cogs fit perfectly together. If you were very clever, I reckon you could use them to make an actual turning mechanism on a card or maybe a page in a mini album.

Supplies:
Chipboard cogs by Tando Creative
Aged Sheet music Scrapblock by Cornish Heritage Farms
Cracked Montana Earth Backgrounder by Cornish Heritage Farms
Watercolour paper
Tim Holtz Distress ink by Ranger (Black Soot and Weathered Wood)Silver embossing powder and UTEE
Black acrylic paint
Timeworks masks by Tim Holtz/Ideaology
Silver brads
Washers

Thanks for stopping by, happy crafting!

Is it time for tea yet?

Now I work freelance from home, one thing I don't miss about an office load of workmates is the endless round of making cups of tea and washing up afterwards! It would be nice to have the social aspect of the tea ritual without the actual making and clearing up wouldn't it?!

The Crafty Secrets member forum challenge at Splitcoaststampers this week has a new host - Darlene is challenging us throughout June and her first challenge theme is: dots.

I hope she'll forgive a fairly liberal interpretation of the theme!

I started thinking about dots and thought it would be fun to have one big dot as the base for the project so I reached for one of the freebie CDs that are stacked up beside my craft table as they're bound to be useful someday! I made clocks as Christmas gifts a couple of years ago and still had a couple of movements left so I decided on a CD clock and added more dots to mark out the hours around the edge.

Working days are often divided up by meetings and (sometimes hasty) cups of tea so I thought it would be fun to have a clock to reflect those "Is it time for tea yet?" moments with the kind of lined paper you might be jotting notes on in a meeting (it's from the Earthy Paper pad). It has dotted lines as well as solid ones - think Darlene will let me count those towards my quota of dots?

Supplies: Kitchen Classics, Tea and Coffee and Story of Me (Clear Art Stamps by Crafty Secrets), Earthy Paper Pad (Crafty Secrets), Tim Holtz Distress Ink (Antique Linen, Tea Dye, Walnut Stain), Prismacolor pencils/OMS/stump, office hole punch, eyelet punch, CD, clock movement

Right, time for tea I reckon - thanks for stopping by!