Button necklace

The challenge for July over on Tando Creative Challenges is to use texture of some sort on your project. Lots of samples have already been posted this month - I'm part of the rear guard action!

I used a big chipboard button from the grab bag, coloured it black with a Copic marker and created texture with an embossing folder for this pendant.

After embossing, the surface is dabbed with Versamark and I've added Perfect Pearls in three colours (Gold, Copper and Bronze - all from the Metallics kit) and used a length snipped from a bamboo skewer to secure a chain through the button's holes. It's simple to do - just thread the chain from the back of the button through the first hole, wrap round the skewer (I went round twice) and back down through the hole. Come up through the second hole, wrap round the skewer and go back down through the hole. Juggle the two ends as necessary by easing through the holes and round the skewer so you get even lengths of chain each side.

Supplies:
Chipboard button grab bag (Tando Creative)
So Trendy M-Bossabilites folder (Spellbinder)
Black Copic marker
Versamark (Tsukineko)
Gold, Copper and Bronze Perfect Pearls (Ranger)
Bamboo skewer
Chain

I've made my first ever tutorial video to demonstrate the process - constructve criticism very welcome! If you'd like go through to YouTube instead of watching it embedded here, the description area has a "checklist" of the steps involved that you can copy and print if you want to have a go yourself and would like a reference on hand.

There's still time to join in the challenge and be in with a chance of your name being pulled out of the hat to win a great prize at the end of the month - check out the blog and add your link if you'd like to play along!

Thanks for stopping by!

Steampunk circles

We're going round and round at Tando Creative this week,  taking our design inspiration from"circles". Lots of possibilities with this one! I've used one of the jewellery shapes that's based around fused circles and gone a bit steampunk with it, adding cogs that are circular too!


I started by colouring the frame (including the edges) black with a Copic marker and then gave it a couple of coats of silver UTEE, leaving that "orange peel" effect you get when you don't aim for full coverage. I used a bit of black acrylic paint to further highlight that texture.

I added text papers from an old book to the base piece and knocked them back a bit with a smudge of gesso. A stamped clockface stuck to a glass pebble fills the largest circle and I added a stamped swirl plus some holeless beads with some silver paint (to mimic ball bearings) to the one above. I punched a hole through the top circle for a pendant cord and added a few more fake bearings.

The teardrop shape is fill with Glossy Accents and has some tiny cogs embedded in there. They were mostly black plastic so they've been treated with silver acrylic paint. The one that hangs over the edge of the frame has a watch winder with a tiny blue gemstone stuck in the centre.

Supplies:
Jewellery Circle Pendant Straight (Tando Creative)
Silver UTEE
Black and silver acrylic paints
Old book
Gesso
Stamps from Inchie Style (CHF, retired)
Tiny cogs
2mm holeless beads
Glossy Accents
Glass pebble

If you're looking for Tando stockists you can find a list here.

Thanks for stopping by today!

Childhood memories

The theme for this month's postcard swap on UK Stampers is "childhood".

If anybody picked a random day in my childhood and took a peek, they'd probably see a little girl with slightly red hair, pale skin and her nose in a book. I'd be surprised if there were many days that didn't involve reading somewhere along the line.

So I picked one of my favourite Crafty Secrets stamps and, inspired by a memory of a make-over by Sophie LaFontaine, I turned the little boy into a little girl!

I started with a page from a story book stuck to some card and lightly covered with gesso. There's a local business that sells packs of paper ephemera, mostly pages resuced from books that are not fit to be sold on in their entirety - this is a page from one of those packs.

The wording and swirls are stamped directly onto the page, the little reader was stamped, coloured, cut out and stuck on. I used watercolour crayons to add some background colour in the doodled circle - I thought the colour could represent the colourful world of the imagination bringing the words to life.

Stamps:
Story of Me (Clear Art Stamps by Crafty Secrets)
Big Inspiration and Storybook (both CHF, retired)
Paper: Book page and smooth white
Ink: Brilliance by Tsukineko (Graphite Black)
Other:
Copic markers
Gesso
Neocolour II watersoluble pastels
Corner Chomper

Thanks for stopping by!

Big Buttons

In keeping with the haberdashery theme I mentioned last time, I decorated some chipboard buttons from the grab bag. The large buttons are a good size and I think they'd make lovely one-off embellies on scrapbook pages, frames, memory boxes etc - you could knot a ribbon through and add a stick pin and charm for a unique embellie cluster!

I embossed the square ones with a Cuttlebug folder (Textile Texture is good for this because of the small scale pattern) having coloured them red, white and blue first. I then used a tiny amount of gold acrylic paint on my finger tip to highlight the textured pattern before triple embossing with UTEE.  

Supplies:

Tando Creative chipboard button

Distress Fired Brick, Adirondack Stonewashed and Versamark inks

Cuttlebug Textile Texture embossing folder

Gold acylic paint

Clear UTEE

I think the white round button is my favourite of all of these! For this set, I stamped the swirl and embossed with white powder and then used Distress ink to colour the buttons (using the embossed pattern as a resist). Again, they're finished with three coats of UTEE - the original embossed pattern gets encapsulated in the thick clear coating.

Supplies:

Tando Creative chipboard button

Distress Fired Brick and Antique Linen, Adirondack Stonewashed and Versamark inks

Ornamental Beauty stamp set (CHF)
Detail white embossing powder
 Clear UTEE

Thanks for stopping by!

Heritage Haberdashery

Ooops - haven't blogged for ages! Off on holiday and then just not getting back into the swing of things, I'm afraid.

Today's project is something I made for the Tando Creative demo table at this weekend's Extravaganza at the Craft Barn. As it's the Olympics and the Queen's Diamond Jubilee, we played with a red, white and blue colour scheme and a haberdashery theme for some samples. I used one of the printer's trays as the base and stamped and embellished at will!

I gave the frame the sort of "tarnished enamel" look you sometimes see on old sewing machines by painting with gold acrylic and then sprinkling lightly with black embossing powder.

Except for the two 1920s ladies, all the stamps are from the Darkroom Door Dressmaker set - a lovely set of vintage style images.

I cut the little bunting flags freehand and triple embossed the die cut lettering for a glossy, raised effect. All the images are coloured with Copics and the tiny buttons are ones I've had in my stash for years that were just the right scale for this.

I cut out the thread spools and used an embossing stylus to raise the top and bottom of each one. The scisssors are gold embossed, cut out and raised up on foam pads with some pins and a stamped thimble tucked in behind - you can probably see both those things more clearly if you click through to the bigger version of this detail shot.

This was my first go with a printer'stray - it's fun to collect lots of things together for all the apertures!

Stamps:
Dressmaker (Darkroom Door)
1920s ladies are from Haute Couture (Cornish Heritage Farms)

Ink:
Brilliance by Tsukineko (Graphite Black)
Adirondack by Ranger (Stonewashed)

Other:
Printer's Tray by Tando Creative
Copic markers
Embossing powder (detail black, detail gold, clear)
Mini buttons
Pearls
Tim Holtz Typeset alphabet die

If you had chance to get along to the Extravaganza for yourself I hope you enjoyed it!

Thanks for stopping by!

Round robin postcards

We've had a "round robin" swap on UKStampers over the last few months - we each chose a stamp and sent it to the next person in our group and then after two weeks we passed on the stamp we'd received and so on until our own stamps came home. We had no limitations on what we made and could do whatever we liked with our projects.

I decided to make postcards with the stamps I received and I'm sending the cards to the people who own the stamp used to make it. The cards are all ones that can be posted as genuine postcards (no envelope) and standard postcard size (6x4"). I'm blogging just a couple here.

Pat sent us this Roman statue stamp to play with. One of the beauties of this kind of swap is that you get to play with stamps you wouldn't normally choose and this fell into that category for me!

I started thinking about grafitti because of the lettering down the side of the image. I stamped the image, masked it and then added some random lettering masks and sponged with neutral inks. I added a crackle stamp over the top, using only part of the stamp and moving it around randomly to get patches of crackle effect. I used markers to add a drop shadow to the image to give an illusion of some depth.

Materials:
Pat's stamp (I think it might be a Crafty Individuals' one?)
Crackle glaze background stamp (Indigo Blu)
Versafine Onyx Black, Adirondack Pebble and Mushroom inks
Copic W1 and W3 markers
Tim Holtz Ransom Alphabet masks

Witchy chose this photo-realistic image of Elvis to send out (I recognise it as a Stampsmith stamp). I happened to have an Elvis set in my own collection so I used a couple of those faces as part of the background by stamping in the same colour as the sheet music stamp I used.

This is also a one layer card - I stamped Elivs in black and masked him then stamped a ticket and masked before stamping the final ticket, masking that and stamping the background. Again, drop shadows added with markers help to create "layers" from the elements,

I did the wording by printing out (mirror image) onto an acetate sheet and then rubbing over it with a lolly stick to transfer it to the postcard - I like the slightly grungy look it gives and you don't have to fret about lining up a postcard to go through your printer!

Materials:
Witchy's Elvis stamp (Stampsmith)
Elvis Faces stamp set and Aged Sheet Music Scrapblock (both CHF, retired)
Versafine Onyx Black and Adirondack Denim inks
Copic C1 and C3 markers
Inkjet printer and acetate

Thanks for stopping by!

Kid's stuff

The challenge this month at Tando Creative is to "Alter it". Now I'm in the camp that says to be really altered, something must be changed beyond its original use rather than just decorated in a certain style. Others are in the other camp and that's fine!

I started with a child's board book picked up for 30p in a charity shop. I'm not sure I would have given it to a child (a bit too much evidence of its previous owner's snacking habits!) but it was ripe for a bit of cutting and sticking.

The pages are covered with scrunched tissue paper and then painted with acrylic paint for a textured, leathery sort of effect.

On the front, I've added a bookplate with a stamped sentiment (Time to Stamp was one of my very first purchases from Cornish Heritage Farms way back when so I'm delighted that it's formed part of the first release now that CHF has new owners).

I painted the bookplate with gold acyrlic, beat it up with an embossing stylus and added a tiny bit of brown paint for the textured look.

The little stud on the right of the plate is actually the book closure - a Sam Browne stud (that's a hitch fastener if you're in the world of Tim Holtz but a whole lot cheaper if you're in the land of leather supplies).

 I cut a niche by removing the centre of most of the pages and sticking them together. Versamark dabbed through a mask and brushed with copper and bronze Perfect Pearls adds some pattern over the scrunched tissue paper texture.

I added sketchy circles with gesso on the inner page to suggest a clock face and added the ornate chipboard hands, painted with gold acrylic. They're positioned so that the thick bit where they are stacked on top of each other goes inside the niche when the book is closed.

Inside the niche I've sponged over a clock mask, added a stamped sentiment and a "rusty" chipboard key (coloured with a copper Krylon leafing pen and then given a coat of Vintage Photo Distress embossing powder).

A bit different for me but I had fun doing it and it's certainly not going to be used by a child to learn about colours and shapes so it fits my altered requirements!

Supplies:
Board book
Keys grab bag, Clock hands, Bookplate, Bamboo mask  (all Tando Creative)
Time to Stamp and Key Expressions stamp sets (Cornish Heritage Farms)
Tim Holtz Distress ink by Ranger (Vintage Photo)
Versafine by Tsukineko (Onyx Black) 
Versamark by Tsukineko
Acrylic paint (Dark Umber and Gold)
Gesso
Perfect Pearls (Copper and Bronze)
Distress Embossing Powder (Vintage Photo)
Krylon leafing pen (Copper)
Timeworks mask
Tissue paper
Lace
Paper roses (Wild Orchid Crafts)
Sam Browne stud
Crop-a-Dile

Thanks for stopping by! As ever, we'd love to have you play along with the challenge and be in with a chance of picking out some lovely Tando goodies as a prize package if your name comes out of the hat at the end of the month! Details here: Alter it

New leaf?

It's challenge time at Tando Creative and our theme this month is "Green and Yellow".

I've made a simple canvas this month. I used watercolour crayons in shades of green and yellow to scribble directly onto the canvas and blended with gesso.

I sponged ink over the Random Circles mask and then stamped the leaves. I used green and yellow acrylic paint to paint over the stamping and left all but one of them as basic shapes. On the last one, I added some veining with dark brown paint and also scratched through the layers of paint with a pin and finally added a drop shadow with the brown paint.

The chipboard domino is triple embossed with a word stamp pressed in and then picked out with some more acrylic paint.

Stamps:
Falling Leaves (Stampers Anonymous)
Imagine (The Artistic Stamper)

Ink:
Adirondack by Ranger (Lettuce)
Versamark

Other:
Random Circles mask (Tando Creative)
Chipboard domino (Tando Creative)
Canvas
Acrylic paint
Gesso
UTEE
Caran d'Ache watercolour crayons

Thanks for stopping by! If you fancy having a play with this springtime colour combo we'd love to have you join us and if your project is picked in the random draw at the end of the month you can pick out a lovely Tando prize! Challenge details here.

Household flower!

Papercrafts magazine is celebrating its Pratical Solutions for Papercrafters special issue this week with a whole bunch of challenges on Cath Edvalson's Moxie Fab blog.

I thought I'd play along in the "Household Items" challenge and made this card.

I've used two household items - a facial tissue and kitchen foil.

The foil was simply stuck to some cardstock and embossed with a Spellbinder folder. I scribbled over with a pink Copic marker and then sanded to give a sort of brushed metal look with a hint of pink in the low spots.

The sentiment is heat embossed in silver to go with the foil.

I remember making piles of flowers from coloured tissues when I was a kid to decorate a village carnival float. We must have been pretty sure it wasn't going to rain!

This is a smaller version of those flowers - I started by cutting strips about 2" wide from a tissue and then layered, concertina folded and wired in the middle of the strip. I rounded the petal ends, ran a marker around them and then carefully separated the layers to make a fluffy bloom. The centre is Glossy Accents with some nail art microbeads sprinkled on.

Stamps: Say it Loud (Waltzingmouse Stamps)

Paper: White, Bitter chocolate, Facial tissue

Ink: Versamark

Other:
Detail silver embossing powder
Memento marker (Angel Pink)
Nail art microbeads
Kitchen foil
Copic marker (Tender Pink)
Spellbinder M-bossabilities folder (So Trendy)
Corner Chomper

Thanks for stopping by - why not check out the Moxie Fab blog for some great pratical challenges?! (Deadline is 9th April and you'll find all the challenges listed on the right hand side of the blog).

Inspired by Klimt

Our challenge for March over on UKStampers is to take inspiration from a modern (fairly abstract) painter and alter something.

I've altered a chipboard domino to make a pendant inspired by Gustav Klimt. I didn't look at a particular work of his, I just worked on my association of him with rich green and gold and fluid curved lines.

I didn't have black UTEE which is the ideal for this "faux cloisonne" technique so I used three coats of clear with black pigment ink and then a coat of black detail embossing powder just to make sure! The final surface is coated with Versamark and dusted with a couple of colours of Perfect Pearls, reheated to melt before pressing the stamp into the soft surface.

Once it was cool, I used a Versamark pen and added a little more Perfect Pearls to a few circles. I gave the whole thing a couple of coats of Klear floor polish to give it some sheen. This is take two - the first one had a coat of Glossy Accents on it which I left to dry overnight. This morning it was cloudy in the middle and had deep splits in three or four places - I guess it didn't like the non-porous surface!

The edges and the back are finished with gold acrylic paint and I rounded the corners with the ⅛th inch Corner Chomper.

Stamps: Bubble Border (Lost Coast Designs)
Paper: Chipboard domino by Tando Creative
Ink: Brilliance by Tsukineko (Graphite Black)
Other:
Clear UTEE by Ranger
Detail black embossing powder
Perfect Pearls by Ranger (Forever Green and Sunflower Sparkle)
Gold acrylic paint
Versamark pen and fine paint brush
Corner Chomper
Klear floor polish
Jewellery findings

Thanks for stopping by!