October Elements

Can you believe it's the first Friday of yet another month?! Of course that means it's an "elemental"challenge at Daring Cardmakers - just choose at least three elements from Leo's picture to kickstart your project.

I didn't consciously set out thinking that the overall feel of the picture was quirky but maybe it was bubbling under since what I made is definitely on the quirky side!

From the picture I chose the strawberry, a hand (it's even a left hand!) and some black and white stripes. Although I didn't go for the colour scheme there is a wee bit of kraft, like the box of washi tapes.

The striped frame is hand drawn onto a scrap of kraft cardstock and cut out to make a focal point in the middle of a white card with the images layered on top.

Stamps:
Past Times by Hero Arts
Vintage Garden - Produce by Waltzingmouse Stamps (no longer with us)

Paper:
Bristol board
Kraft

Ink:
Brilliance by Tsukineko (Graphite Black)

Other:
Copic markers
Black fineline marker
White Posca paint pen
Pearl pen by Viva Decor (Anthracite)
Pinflair Glue Gel

Here's the inspiration picture Leo chose for us this month. We'd love to see what you're inspired to make if you get chance!

Thanks for stopping by!

Cracking pendant

I've been playing with Tando chipboard again - the large pendant drop this time. It's an elegant and timeless shape that would stand up to all sorts of treatments. I decided to slather it in some of my favourite paints for a shell-like look.

Viva Decor Croco paint is great fun to use - you're never quite sure exactly what it will look like once the crackling has fnished! I punched holes along the bottom edge of the pendant first, using a Crop-o-Dile, and then covered thepiece with Turquoise Croco and left it overnight to do its thing. I rubbed black acrylic paint on to accentuate the cracks and then sponged some Precious Metal paint over the top and nestled beads into the holes, using a gel superglue to stick them in. The larger beads were salvaged from my ancient bead box and were a particularly nasty brown plastic so they've been coated in Precious Metal paint to make them look like pearls.

I finished the top with an extra large eyelet. As the threading hole was quite a bit larger than the diameter of the eyelet's shank, I squished the eyelet flat first and glued it into place rather than trying to get it to grip round the hole.

I used a double strand of leather thong to hang the pendant, binding with some black linen thread to finish it off.

Supplies:
Large Pendant Drop by Tando Creative (you can find a list of Tando stockists here)
Croco paint by Viva Decor (Turquoise)
Precious Metal paint by Viva Decor (Blue Azure and Mother of Pearl)
Black acrylic paint
Extra large Eyelet by We R Memory Keepers (Pewter)
Beads
Leather thong
Linen thread

Thanks for stopping by!

Which finger did he bite?

Yikes, I don't usually post twice in one day -sorry- but I just realised that somebody stole an entire week so today is the last day to play with the current Ready Steady Stamp challenge! Tricky one this although the rules have changed and you can now play with three or more of the ingredients if you don't have the materials (or inspiration!) to manage all five.

It was the oval that nearly did for me and I was about ready to settle for four out of five when I was struck by the idea of doing oval bubbles rather than circular ones!

So here it is, something a bit different for me!

The fish is printed on acetate and painted with Viva paints on the back so he has a nice shimmer but all the detail is retained. The acetate is folded and stuck at the back of the card. I traced the second wavy line onto it and trimmed it so it doesn't go all the way down to the bottom of the card as it seemed to lie better that way.

Numbers and shells are stamped and the lines, wording and bubbles are done freehand. I used Glossy Accents to fill in the two small areas at the base of the card and sprinkled dry builders' sand on there.

I'm hoping the RSS police will look kindly on me - I have printed an image from my computer as well as stamping. I'm hoping that "no digi" means no "digital stamps" and that a vintage text book illustration will sneak in under the wire.

Stamps:
Seaside Clear Art Stamps by Crafty Secrets
A&P Numbers by Ma Vinci's Reliquary

Paper:
Overhead transparency for inkjet printer
White

Ink:
Tim Holtz Distress ink by Ranger (Vintage Photo)

Other:
Fish image from Karen's Whimsy
Copic multiliner
Copic markers
Precious Metal paint by Viva Decor (Mother of Pearl, Blue Azure, Lilac)
Glossy Accents
Sand

Thanks for stopping by!

Je sais qu'il ya beaucoup de participantes françaises pour les challenge RSS - si vous voulez me laisser un commentaire, mais vous n'aimez pas le faire en Anglais, s'il vous plaît n'hésitez pas à le dire en Français! Je ne le parle pas bien, mais c'est OK pour la compréhension de commentaires court. Merci de votre visite!

Bleached out

I've been feeling a bit bleached out this past week - I managed to pick up an awful cough and cold from somewhere so haven't felt much like blogging. It's getting better now though so I thought I'd share a bleached out project with you!

I do like these typographical Scrapblocks - you can use them as a feature in themselves or you can pick and choose elements and use them as individual sentiments just by doing a bit of selective inking. I went for a grungy look here though by doing a bit of bleach stamping with the whole stamp.

You never know quite what you're going to get with this technique as different cardstocks behave differently but this chocolate brown card gave me some interesting, warm and earthy colours. As well as using the bleach as "ink" on the stamp, I swiped some over an extra piece of card using a babywipe to make the panel for the sentiment.

The textural element was a fun little experiment. I have some plastic canvas shapes that I usually use as piercing templates. I used a circle here and spread Ferro into the holes. Once it was dry, I added a little Rub n Buff to the high spots. I think it's made a fun mosaic look! Just remember to wash your plastic canvas promptly to get rid of the Ferro and it will serve you many times over.

Stamps (Cornish Heritage Farms):
Life Scrapblock (releasing Friday 16th April)
Sentiment from Sweet Bee (Rummage Bin line)

Paper:
Simply Heavy Chocolate (CHF)
Scrap of vanilla

Ink:
Versafine by Tsukineko (Onyx Black)

Other:
Bleach
Sewing machine and thread
Ferro paint by Viva Decor (Gold Iron)
Rub n Buff by Amaco (Gold Leaf)
Plastic canvas circle (used as template)

Catchin' a wave

If you're a visitor to the Tando Creative blog then you may already know this but if not then I have news to share! Carol and I have been test driving Di's new white-coated board shapes for the last few weeks and as we neared the end of our experiments, Di invited us both to join the very talented ladies on the Design Team! As most of you know, I love to stamp so I'm very excited to be taking up this new role as the board has been lovely to combine with my stamping habit!

To celebrate, I had another play with the wavy inchie shape over the weekend and did a bit of CD "upcycling" to make this little brooch.

Your Tonic Studio scissors are handy for this kind of project as they cut through a CD with no problem! I cut a little strip and stuck it to an inchie that was first slathered in Ferro. I pressed a moistened stamp into the top part for some pattern and textural interest and then sponged over with some Precious Metal paints once dry.

ETA - Janice asked about the "tooth marks" on the CD strip. They're just the micro serrations of the Tonic blades. I thought it looked attractive so didn't try doing anything to smooth them out.

The whole lot was stuck to another piece of CD, using the edge of the circle to make a gentle curve at the base of the brooch. I coloured the resulting spaces with some more Precious Metal. A couple of flat back gems (courtesy of my Secret Santa - thanks Caroline!) and some tiny nail art gems finish it off.

Stamps:
Beautiful (The Rummage Bin line)

Paper:
Wavy Inchie (Tando Creative - find Tando stockists by looking here)

Other:
Ferro by Viva Decor (Graphite)
Precious Metal paint by Viva Decor (Blue Azure, Lilac, Mother of Pearl)
Freebie CD
Flat back gems
Nail art gems
E6000 adhesive
Brooch pin

You can visit Tando Creative and the other girls on the Design Team through the links in the blog roll over on the right if you'd like to.

Thanks for stopping by!

Mixing it!

Today is the final project from me and Carol on the Tando white board. We thought it would be fun to have a free for all day and just go with wherever the flow took us! I decided to mix some of the products and techniques from the projects we've been showing over the last few weeks and made this little piece of shelf art (it has a stand at the back so you can just plonk it down on a flat surface and it's quite stable).

I took advantage of the white surface and inked my chippie with Adirondack dye inks and then added Tera over part of it, bubbled it with a heat gun and accentuated the texture with some acrylic paint. Sentiment and dragonfly stamped with the darker of the blue inks and then I added some teeny glass bubbles, some florist wire and a twig from the garden.

The floating dragonfly is made from Cosmic Shimmer fusible film (about the only time you see me with an iron in my hand is if it's being used for crafting - hee hee!). I painted the back of the body with acrylic paint so it still has the iridescent sheen from the film but it's more opaque than the wings. I gave him some wire antennae and the wire extends down behind the body to give it some support.

Stamps (Cornish Heritage Farms):
Emerging Dragonfly - Dream (Sara England line)

Paper:
Scalloped circle (Tando Creative - you can find Tando stockists by looking here - I know Bubbly Funk already has this shape in stock, not sure about other places)

Ink:
Adirondack dye ink by Ranger (Stonewashed and Denim)

Other:
Tera paint by Viva decor (Greek)
Florist wire
Cosmic Shimmer fusible film (Blue Lake)
2mm and 3mm AB finish "beads" (no hole)
Acrylic paint
Twig

Hop on over to the Tando Creative blog to see what Carol's been up to as well. Thanks for stopping by!

Framed in Ferro

Carol and I have subjected the Tando white board to more gunkiness today - Ferro paint by Viva Decor this time.

I used four of the wavy domino pieces arranged to make this little frame - each one coated in Ferro, stamped for a bit of texture and lightly sponged with a couple of Precious Metal Paints. I did them individually so that I got clear joins between the pieces on the final frame. I think my stamps were just a bit small to get a clear impression in the thick Ferro but I like the effect I got!

I stuck an acrylic fragment over the picture hole and dry brushed a little of the copper paint around the edge. A glass pebble over a stamped clock face, a few tiny glass bubbles (aren't those fabulous - 2mm and 3mm glass spheres with an AB finish) and a coil of copper wire finish it off.

You could easily use a small photo instead of a stamped image if you wanted to personalise this idea and maybe use it as a gift.

I did find my dominoes curved just very slightly with the moisture of the Ferro (maybe a just shy of a millimetre lift at each end) but nothing that didn't flatten back out easily for sticking to a base.

Stamps (Cornish Heritage Farms):
Inchie Style (Rummage Bin line)

Paper:
Chipboard wavy dominoes (Tando Creative - you can find Tando stockists by looking here - I know Bubbly Funk already has this shape in stock, not sure about other places)
Simply Smooth

Ink: Versafine by Tsukineko (Onyx Black)

Other:
Ferro Paint by Viva Decor (Graphite)
Precious Metal Paint by Viva Decor (Blue Azure and Copper)
Fragment by Tim Holtz/Ideaology
Glass pebble (the sort you put in vases)
2mm and 3mm glass AB "beads" (no hole)
Copper wire

Thanks for stopping by! This and Carol's Ferro project are on the Tando Creative blog along with lots of other chippie projects for inspiration if you're in the mood for a little blog hopping!

Cracking up

Another in the series of projects with Di's new board over on Tando today - Carol and I have been playing with Croco paint.

The wavy edges make these new shapes just that bit different - I thought beads would look perfect nestled up into the arched areas and so this little pendant was born. Hey look, no stamping!

The beads are clear crackle glass - the light is flaring off the crackles and making them look opaque white - sorry about that!

I painted the inchie first with black acrylic paint so that the black showed through the cracks of the Croco.

I sponged Precious Metal paint over the dried Croco but didn't aim for full coverage which has given a pleasing, shell like quality to the colour, I think. I added a dab of glue on the ends of the pins for extra security before embedding them in the inchie but the beads are free to twizzle on there so they're "fidget beads"! The board is really thick so not only does it take texture paint like this without warping, you can embed pins and you get plenty of contact area to glue things together (I used a gel type superglue).

Check out the Tando Creative blog for more cracking projects on the new board!

Supplies:
Wavy inchie - Tando Creative (you can find Tando stockists by looking here - I know Bubbly Funk already has this shape in stock, not sure about other places)
Croco paint by Viva Decor - Turquoise
Precious Metal paint by Viva Decor - Blue Azure
Black acrylic paint
Aluminium tubing (from a model shop)
Czech glass beads
Pins (from shirt packaging!)
Gel superglue
Necklace findings
Rubber cord

Thanks for stopping by!

Dance to the music of time

I haven't played along at Tuesday Taggers before but I saw through Gez's blog that this week's challenge was to get messy - too hard to resist!

As the challenge is being sponsored by the Craft Barn, I thought I'd take the opportunity to play with some Viva Decor products as they stock a fab range of them and they're perfect for messy projects! This week's SCD challenge gave me the theme of time for my ATC.

I decided to add to the obvious watch/clock theme with some sheet music indicating something about the timing or speed of the music, too. My clock face is done on shrink plastic and the little cog and wheel are old clock parts. I thought the circuit board could be part of a timing device, as well!

The texture at the bottom (which I've mostly covered up!) was done by stamping the harlequin backgrounder onto chipboard and heat embossing with UTEE - I gave it three coats. Then I laid aluminium tape over it, sprayed with Glimmer Mist and once it was dry I rubbed over with a buffing block to expose the silver tape. The top bit that has the more organic texture is Tera with a heat gun applied to make it bubble - fun stuff!

Stamps (Cornish Heritage Farms):
Textured Harlequin backgrounder
Circuit Board backgrounder
Time to Stamp (Rummage Bin line)

Paper:
Chipboard
Vintage sheet music

Ink:
Brilliance by Tsukineko (Graphite Black)
Tim Holtz Distress ink by Ranger (Vintage Photo)

Other:
Tera paint by Viva Deco (Kenya)
Precious Metal paint by viva Decor (Copper)
Black acrylic paint
Aluminium tape
UTEE by Ranger
Shrink plastic
Glimmer Mist by Tattered Angels (Red Maple and Vintage Brass)

Tuesday Taggers invited us to show our messy hands or workspaces too - I only managed a picture of one hand since I couldn't get them far enough away from the camera to use the timer and have the picture in focus! Note the tasteful crusting of Tera right down on the heel of my hand - no idea how that got there!

Thanks for stopping by, hope your weekend is going well!

The key to an ATC

I'm squeaking in for this week's challenge on Something Completely Different. The object of the month is ATCs and this week's theme is keys.

I seem to be slightly obsessed with the Adirondack colours Pool and Stream just at the moment. I had new toys to play with too - Viva Croco paint - which was turquoise so the inks came out again.

The butterfly body was made by wrapping thin wire around a fairly chunky needle to make a coil. I left one end free before starting the coil and then threaded the other end back up through the hollow so I could make antennae. I used a tiny blob of Glossy Accents to finish them with a slight bulb on the end.

The crackle paint is lovely stuff. Not for the crafter in a hurry though, you can expect to wait at least a couple of hours before you get those fabulous deep cracks all done and dusted.

Stamps (Cornish Heritage Farms):
Key Elements (All Things Considered line)
Key Expressions (Mona Lisa Moments line)

Paper:
Chipboard ATC
Scrap of Simply Smooth

Ink:
Adirondack dye ink by Ranger - Pool and Stream
Versafineby Tsukineko - Onyx Black

Other:
Croco paint by Viva Decor - Turquoise
Black acrylic paint
Jump rings
Beads
Key charm
Fishing swivel
Leafing pen by Krylon - silver
Thin wire (recycled from the "cage" on a bottle of Rioja!)
Glossy Accents by Ranger
Crop-a-Dile

Thanks for stopping by today!