TMTA - Ice Blue

Morning,

This week the Think Monday, Think ATC theme is Ice Blue.




I have made an ATC using a mix of Chalk Inks and Brilliance Dewdrops and used Penny Black Brush Stroke stamps and a Catslife Press stamp for the sentiment.




The sparkle is Broken China Distress Ink and Frosty Lace Stickles and the butterfly is stamped onto Claudine Hellmuth sticky canvas and backed with metal so the wings stay curled.

Thanks for a fab challenge :O))

Hels x

Sunday Stamper - Week 44 - Blue Eyes

Morning Stampers,

Thank you to all of you who joined in with the last Sunday Stamper challenge - it was great to see so many lovely works of art :O))




This week the theme is Blue. As always, all you need to do to be able to join in with the challenge is to make something that features the colour blue and also incorporates stamping in some form or other. Once you have made your entry, please pop a post here and add a link to the place you are showing your creation and I will be able to hop over and see what you made.



I have made a canvas for my entry this week - how unusual that I am making a canvas :LOL



My canvas is 8" square and I coloured it using Colorbox Chalk Inks, Sky Blue and Prussian blue with a little Dark Blue around the edges.



I used some larger pieces of Stampbord for the decorating, colouring these in the same way. I used Penny Black Brush Strokes stamping, inking with Midnight Blue StaZon.



Once the stamping was complete, I scratched the images to get back to the while Stampbord colour and then I used a metal file to scuff up the edges.



The Stampbord then had one coat of UTEE applied, I only used the one coat this time as I wanted a bobbly effect on the pieces as the stamps are so lovely and kinda scruffy too - in a good way I mean though :O))




I also used some Claudine Hellmuth Sticky Back Canvas to make some delightful little flower embellies,colouring and stamping as above and then adding the canvas to some metal, cutting out and then shaping to make them 3D. I stuck them to the finished piece using silicone glue. As you can probably tell, I am loving this new sticky canvas ... I seem to be using it on almost everything I make at the moment LOL




That's all from me - have a wonderful Sunday and I am looking forward to seeing your creations.

Hels x

Object of Art Altered Key Tin

Morning peeps

I have altered a tin for my last entry to the Objet D'Art challenge which was to ... er... alter a tin!! LOL

Also, I am a little late to include this but I will do anyway...in the Lots To Do Challenge last week the theme was to include a key in the artwork. I hope I am not too late with this one...having had a heck of a week, I have been a little bit lost on the Mojo front. Anyway, late last night, when I couldn't sleep, I crept into the Room of Stash and started to splosh about with alcohol inks and bits and bobs from my collection of "junk" and this is what I came up with;



The tin was a Christmas pressie from Dan and originally it was painted with a Christmassy design. I primed the lid with Gesso, using a rough old paint brush to slap some Gesso on so I had a grainy texture once dried. To speed up the drying, I popped this infront of a little fan heater (cor it is cold at 2am).




Once the Gesso was dry, I used a blend of Kuretake and Ranger alcohol inks in Brown, Yellow and Oregano. I inked all over the lid of the tin and also inside it. I used some Blending Solution to achieve a more mottled effect, giving it a blast with the heat gun to get a splotchy look.




Next, I bashed the lid with my Tim Holtz Hammer (I loooove this hammer as it is tiny and really easy for me to use). I used some Duo Glue and covered my thumb with it...bear with me on this one...and then did thumb prints randomly over the lid. Once the glue had gone tacky, I used metal flakes to cover the gluey patches and then using a wire brush I scratched off the excess flake.




I did a little bit of stamping onto the lid - using a couple of postmark stamps from Crafty Individuals and stamping with StaZon.......gasp! Using StaZon with alcohol inks is usually a no no as the solvent in the ink ruins the look of the alcohol ink. However, there was method in my madness cos whilst the StaZon was still wet, I rubbed over it with a damp babywipe, which removed the excess ink and left more of a faded look.




The little froggy is actually a little Willee.....go on have a giggle, but they really are called that..and you can buy a whole range of criters from The Artistic Stamper :O)) I covered Froggy with Duo Glue and waited for it to go tacky, then I covered him with more metal flakes. I popped ickle Froggy onto a piece of acrylic that my friend Karen sent to me yesterday - I simply sanded the acrylic left to right, flipped over and then sanded in the opposite direction. This piece was glued using silicone glue and then I added a rusty tin heart and a teensy number that used to be an eppilette number on a Policemans uniform (bought from ebay in a bag of findings!)




The flower is made using Claudine Hellmuth's amazing Sticky Canvas, mmm, I am so loving this material to work with! I coloured the canvas with a couple of chalk inks and then stamped over the top. I cut out the flower and placed it onto some metal sheet and then bent the flower into shape. I added some heavenly lacey ribbon behind the flower and then added some of the leafy beaded ribbon I have fallen in love with recently. These were all fixed together with staples and silicone glue and I added some micro beads to the middle of the flower as an accent.




The little bottle is from my junk drawer and just filled up with micro beads and watch findings and attached with silicone glue.

The key....ah, the key, isn't it heavenly? I got a bunch of ancient rusty keys from eBay ages ago and they have been hanging waiting to be used. I added some metal flakes to the key and then I used some copper wire with beads added and wound this around the key stem.




The rest of the keys were popped inside the tin so I now have storage for them.






I totally loved making this little key tin - I just love altering things and making a mess of my desk...you should see it!! And, this only took a little while to make too which is good at the moment as long crafting sessions are still out of bounds for me at the moment with the pain to cope with.

Enough waffle from me - thank you for looking - and don't forget to pop on over to Objet D'Art after 19.00 this evening as there is a brand new challenge coming up!

Hels x

Altered Canvas - Visions of Nature

Morning Peeps,

Eeeeew, yukky horrid weather out there this morning so I am staying indoors and I am going to have a little play in my room of stash....I have an altered art project to be getting on with and I think a few mins playing with inks might be fun :O))

Last weekend I was lucky enough to spend a few days respite being looked after by my bessie mate Andrea. She is such a great friend and I wanted to say that here...she will probably phone me up and tell me off for saying that to everyone, but it is true!!



Anyways, whilst staying with Andrea, and being looked after and treated like a Queen, we had a little play with our stash. We both altered a canvas and used stampbord and inks and stamps and this is what I came up with.




As usual for me, (yawn, I am getting boring) I used a canvas, covered it with chalk inks - the colours on the piccies are as near as I could get them but it is a little more purple in the centre - then I used 9 pieces of 2" square stampbord, which I inked, stamped with StaZon and then scratched with a scratchy tool....there is a novelty! And then I used UTEE and embossed them to make them look like tiles.



I also used some Claudine Helmuth Sticky Back canvas to make a couple of pretty flowers to add to the canvas.




I used the same chalk inks to colour the canvas first, then stamped the flowers with StaZon and then used a fine tip paint brush to add a little bit of white paint to them to co-ordinate them in with the scratchy stampbord.

I edged the canvas with a little diamond border but because of my wobbly arms and hands, the border just isn't straight at all....eeek, it looks a bit messy but it is done with StaZon so no going back!


That is it really....whooops, nearly forgot to credit the stamps I used - Prima clear stamps and Penny Black were the main ones and one by Stampers Anon I think, it was a borrowed one so not 100% sure I am right on that one!! LOL I hope you all have a lovely day and your weather is better than mine!

Hugs Hels x

Journey Into (metal) Art

Morning,

I have been playing with my Ten Seconds Studio stash again and made this little hanging piece.



I used mountboard for the backing; cutting it to 8" square and then using a prime coat of Gesso. Once dried, I painted with acrylic paints, making a distressy feel to the piece and using a bubblewrap stamp to make little marks on the surface and an old credit card (one I hadn't melted LOL) to make lines on the edges.




The metal squares all have 1 1/5" sqaure mountboard bases and the metals I have used are the Kiss Me Pink and Chocolate Brown ones available from The Artistic Stamper. I used a variety of techniques to achieve the patterns, using texture plates, moulds and freehand drawing using the tools.




The centre piece has a base of 3" square mountboard and I used Grungeboard letters under the metal to make the Art word. The Journey Into was written onto copy paper with a Sharpie, flipped over and then traced using a refining tool. I refined all the edges and then did a little freehand decorating.




The surfaces of the metals were all sanded and distressed and then I applied Espresso acylic paint over the top, wiping off and then buffing up to get a nice finish.

I assembled all the pieces using silicone glue and on the centre and random pieces around the edges, I used more glue so I have a raised effect.




Finally, I used a little coat hanger, available here and added some beaded ribbons along the bottom as a little fancy finish.

This piece took aaages for me to make as there is a lot of work in each square but I loved making it and love the colour theme.

Thanks for looking

Hels x

In The News...Lots To Do Challenge Week 2

Morning Peeps,

Over on the Lots To Do Challenge the theme this week is In The News. They wanted us to use newspaper somewhere in the piece of art we make......well, er....I sort of used newspaper :O)) Actually, I made my own, after a fashion LOL

I made two tags for my entry - and I hope that they count seeing as there isn't actually any real newspaper on them!

Tag 1




I started by distressing my tag using Old Paper Distress Ink, which I blended randomly over the tag. I then made a lovely inky messy mixture on my craft sheet by squidging a Tea Dye pad, a Walnut Stain pad and then spritzing with a little mini mister that I filled up with water with a couple of drops of Walnut Stain Re-Inker. I splodged the tag straight onto the inky mixture and then dried with a heatgun. I reapplied the tag to the rest of the mixture and dried again. This gave me a lovely distressed look. Next, using a droplet of Vintage Photo Re-Inker, I dipped the tip of a fine paintbrush into it, then flicked the tag so small droplets of ink landed randomly on the surface of the tag. I spritzed with water and dried again with the heatgun. I love doing these inky techniques ... you get so many different looks just from playing around :O))




Next came the stamping - and this is where I cheated a little bit LOL I used a Tim Holtz Collection stamp that is actually a grungey dictionary definition but is ideal as it is a column. I stamped this using Black Soot ink, leaving gaps on the tag for the next bit of stamping. I used PaperBag Studio's stamps of the two boys to make little photo elements to my "newspaper" Finally, I used Studio G Alpha's to create a headline - and I chose the words "I read the news today ... Oh Boy!" which is actually a line from one of my fave songs, A Day in The Life by The Beatles. I thought that these words went really well seeing as I had the boys in the photo's. I left a little gap at the top of the tag so I could stamp my Inkyness by Hels stamp, which has to be my favest stamp of all time and was a pressie from Jennie at The Artistic Stamper - BTW, all the inky ingredients I have used for these tags can be found there too.




Then, cos the headline didn't really stand out, I used a little Fragment from the Idea-ology range over the top, sticking it down with Glossy Accents.


Tag 2




This tag had already been pre-prepared with some Picket Fence Cracklepaint which had been painted on the top half of the tag. I distressed and coloured the tag in the same way as Tag 1 and then got to the stamping.




I used a PaperArtsy stamp from the Ink & The Dog range, which is actually a Weather Forecast. I used the Tim Holtz stamp again to make some columns above the forecast and then added a Crafty Individuals butterfly stamp as an advertisement, popping a Junkitz "fragment" over the top to emphasise it. I wanted a crackley look all over the tag so I used a Crafty Individuals crackle stamp, stamping using Walnut Stain Distress Ink.

Thanks for the fab challenge - it got me thinking :O)) And I hope that the tags are ok for it.

Thanks for looking peeps, hope you all have a great day!

Hels xx

Inchie Birdies

Hello Peeps,

Bit later posting today than normal....because my piece for today took a lot longer than I anticipated - I seem to be on a bit of a go slow at the moment!



Yes, another canvas....but this time I have used some fabby new stamps by Inkadinkado which are "inchies" and feature Butterflies and Birds.



I used some new ink pads too - they are the brand new chalk inks by My Minds Eye and they are gorgeous, really creamy and lush colours too.



I used Stampbord inchy sized pieces for the little stamps and then added a larger piece and used another Inkadinkado birdy stamp for the main feature.



Once the birds were stamped I took a scratchy tool and highlighted bits of the designs to make them stand out more. I also used a metal file and distressed the edges of the Stampbord pieces.



I used UTEE to cover the Stampbord, making three coats on each piece and then once they had cooled down, I swiped a Timber Brown StaZon pad around the edges, just to define them.



Finally, using the same StaZon, I stamped little swirls and birdy images onto the canvas and added little words and more swirls to the sides of the canvas.



That is it really :O))

Thanks for looking!

Hels x

Taking a Journey or Two

Morning Peeps,

You know sometimes you fancy getting a bit creative but you either haven't got time or energy to make a big project? Well, last night I felt a bit crafty but my pain has been really bad this last couple of days - more so than normal :O(( so I knew that a big project was going to be impossible. I don't want to let the pain start taking over and ruling my crafty life aswell, because I think that a hobby is so important to making oneself happy. So, I made two ATC's using Journey as a theme and when I set out to make them I wanted to get two completely different looks, which I think I managed LOL

ATC #1

This is a hinged ATC ... I went thru a phase a couple of years back of only making hinged ATC's so thought I would revisit this stylee.




I cut some plain white cardstock to ATC size and tore one of the ATC's down the middle. This made the front piece. Next, I picked my stamps, using a sentiment from Stamp Attack, a Tim Holtz collection word and some Paperbag Studios images. I inked these with black StaZon and stamped straight onto the cardstock. Next I blended Mustard Seed, Spiced Marmalade and Fired Brick Distress Ink over the surface of the ATC's. I spritzed water into my hand and flicked at the inked surface to create a splotchy look.




I masked the man and woman image and then overstamped this piece with a Tim Holtz collection stamp which is huge and is made up of random numbers. Using Fired Brick for this stamping, I added a spritz of water direct to the inky stamp to make it a little smudgey. I removed the mask and then coloured the man and woman using Distress inks and a waterbrush.




The front piece was overstamped, again using the same ink and method but this time with a Tim Holtz collection diamond pattern. The inside of the front piece was overstamped again in the same way but this time I used a Tim Holtz collection swirly image. *do you notice that I seem to looooove Tim Holtz collection stamps? LOL




A quick blast with the heatgun to dry off all the inks and then a quick blend on the very edges of the ATC pieces using blending foam and Walnut Stain ink finished the inky part. I added some Grungeboard hinges which I cut from swirly uncut Grunge and then embossed with Fired Brick Distress powder, adding a little arrow of Grungeboard decorated in the same way and finally... a little Muse Token from the Tim Holtz Idea-ology range, fastened with a brad.





ATC #2

Have a I ever mentioned that my all time favourite paper in the whole wide world ever is... The Avenue Collection by Crate Paper? Well, it is! So being as I have not used this paper for yonks, I decided to use it on this ATC, combining it with a sentiment stamp by Penny Black and my favouritest ever butterfly stamp (that has been hibernating recently) which is from the Brush Strokes range by Penny Black.




I cut some card to the ATC size and then covered this with some plain cream paper from the Avenue range, I next tore some patterned paper so it was 3/4 across the width of the ATC and matted this onto a piece of black card, which I also tore.




I stamped the sentiment onto some more of the cream paper using a black Versafine pad and then edged this with Charcoal Chalk Ink. I matted this onto some more black card, making the bottom of this sentiment torn. Next, I stuck all the layers together and added two black brads top and bottom of the ATC and popped the sentiment onto 3D foam.




The butterfly was stamped twice, using black Versafine, onto patterned paper and cut out. I stuck this to the ATC using Glossy Accents, curling the wings to make it look like it had just fluttered in for a snooze. I added some little sticky back pearls to the body of the buttefly and finally stapled some ribbon and pearl string to the top of the ATC.




I really enjoyed making these two ATC's you know - it is good to revisit your old faves, using fave techniques and papers and it has given my Mojo a bit of a boost too :O))

Thanks for looking - have a great day and I would love to hear what you think of these two pieces of artwork :O))

Hels x