Sunday Stampers - Week 53 - Our House

Er.....Afternoon Stampers!!

Whoops-a-daisy, it is late, I know - I have a very very good excuse for being so late in posting the challenge for you this week though!

Well, sort of a good excuse - yesterday we went to Morecambe to watch Luton Town play (yipyah, we won!!!) and because it was such an intense day, my pain went thru the roof, so last night, I took a strong one to try and get some kip.....what I hadn't planned on was sleeping for 14 hours!!!!!

So, without further ado and pathetic excuses, the theme for this week is Houses. How you want to interpret the theme is up to you, you can make a house and decorate it with stamping or include a housey stamp in your artwork, the choice is entirely yours.

Now, here is the really naughty bit from me - I haven't made mine yet ROFL .... Finally managed to get a few mins to upload my effort for this week :O))





I will be endeavouring to wipe the sleep from my eyes and try to make something today, promise!

Have fun and once you have made your piece, please leave me a comment here and a link to your Blog and I will pop over to see what you have made.

Have a great day all and lots of love

Hels x

Getting Inky for Minxy :O))

Morning Peeps,

It was my mate Minxy's birthday the other day so I got all inky and messy making a card for her. I had run out of wrapping paper so I also "altered" an envelope to send a little pressie to her in - here are the piccies: (BTW, if you click on her name you will get to her amazing Blog where she has some gorgeous altered pieces to inspire you)

Card:




I made some alcohol inky backgrounds for the main elements of the card. The little one was inked in the normal way, putting ink onto the applicator and then dabbing onto glossy card. The larger piece was inked by inking the applicator with three lines of different coloured inks and then dragging them across the glossy card, first one way, then the other, to make a plaid design, it doesn't show up too well on the pics though!




The stamping was done using Ranger Archival ink and heat dried to set it on the glossy surface. The stamps are from the Tim Holtz Collection by Stampers Anon. I made a little collage for the smaller piece using those new mini stamps that co-ordinate with the larger original ones. They are so cute and perfect for making matching collages.




Matted onto black card and then gold mirri card to finish, I assembled the pieces over each other and then just added a little message and an Idea-ology tag which I had covered with gold Dabber and then wiped off so the paint stayed in the recessed wordy part (I know what I mean am just rubbish at describing stuff!!!) LOL


Envelope:





I have to admit that I do like to decorate envelopes with images that co-ordinate with the card - it makes it so much nicer to receive a fancy envelope doesn't it? I used the same Tim stamps and made a little collage for the envelope.


Wrapping Paper:




Well, as I said, it isn't wrapping paper, it is an envelope that I decorated to hide Minxy's pressie in! I used those same little Tim stamps and made a collage and then coloured the envelope with Old Paper Distress Ink and cut it down to the right size and sealed it with staples.

Thanks for looking and I hope Minxy had a fabby day!

Hels x

Fifty Years - A Golden Era

Morning :O))

It was my dear Aunt and Uncle's Golden Wedding Anniversary last weekend and I wanted to make them a card that kind of had a nostalgic feel to it but also included golden tones.

I used a similar layout to a board I made a few weeks ago, using photo rub-ons and lots of lace and ribbon.





I used colours that are "romantic" and included some K & Co "Ancestry" papers as these are such soft and delicate colours. I ran a piece of the paper thru the Cuttlebug, using a fancy patterned embossing folder and then sanded off the embossed parts to reveal the white core. This gave me a really nice "shabby" old feel to the card.





The flowers are by Prima and under these I added a little string of pearls and also popped a couple of long pins which I had embellished with beads and gold Krylon pen.




The word "adore" is a Basic Grey rub on and I thought it was kind of appropriate as they have been married for such a long time, it goes without saying that they adore each other. My Aunty loved the card, it is just her style and she was over the moon with it as it was very different from shop bought ones LOL




Thanks for looking and have a grand day.

Hels x

With Love.....From Me To You!

Morning,

I am taking part in a swap where each member makes a little something special for the next person on the list. The swap is nearly finished now and I have made my last two pieces and sent them out.




Here is one of the ones - yes, it is another Suspended Art (love that new name) piece using the usual mountboard, Grungeboard and inks.




The colours I used are Mustard Seed, Spiced Marmalade, Worn Lipstick and Fired Brick. Applied direct to the pre-gesso'd mountboard, (which I had actually used the Gesso and a dotty stamp to make a different background), I blended the inks and then spritzed using water.




The stamp is another of those gorgeous ones by PaperBag Studio's. Stamped in Timber Brown StaZon and then highlighted with Glossy Accents, I added Grungeboard letters and pieces from the Nature pack. The Grungeboard was coloured with Distress Ink and then I used Distress Stickles to add a little sparkle to the pieces. All the above inks, Stickles and Grungeboard are available from The Artistic Stamper.




I used some mini clips to make a hanger, using some gingham ribbon and a couple of large beads to secure it. Finally, as ever, I used some beaded braid - oh, I do love this fringing and I will be selling it soon on eBay - please watch my Blog for the details as I will be selling it soooo cheap that you will be able to buy three times as much for what you will pay in the shops!!!! Bargains!!




Anyways, I hope that you have a great day - it is blowing a gale here in Luton, I have some washing for the line but am worrying that it may just blow all over the neighbourhood and I certainly don't want my "not so smalls" waving at me from a nearby tree LOL

Thanks for looking and I hope that Shaz, who this was made for enjoys it as much as I did making it.

Hugs Hels xxx

Sunday Stampers - Week 52 - Diamonds Are Forever

Morning Stampers,

Thank you ever so much for all your lovely comments and entries last week. I have chosen a winner from the many great suggestions for my "hanging art" re-naming.

And the winner is.......

Liverpool Lou for her suggestion Suspended Art. However, because this is very similar to another suggestion from Shaz (Suspension Art) I have decided to give both of you a prize :O)) I will pop something into the post for you tomorrow. And thank you for the great suggestion, at least now I will have a proper name for all these little boardy things I am making! LOL

Right then, for the challenge this week I have chosen the theme Diamonds. You can use any kind of diamond on your artwork - be it a diamond shape, diamond ring, necklace, real diamonds....actually, scrap that last idea cos that would just be wasteful :O)) All you need to do to join in is make something, card, ATC, altered art, anything really, as long as there is some aspect of stamping included...and then please leave me a message on this post with a link to the place you are showing your work.

I made a card earlier this week for my friend Linda who is celebrating her birthday tomorrow. I can show it now though as she has already opened the card so no surprises are being spoiled!




I used a massive size card that I just got from QVC, believe me, it is huge, almost A4 in size but totally fab for making a special card and getting as much stuff on the front of it as possible, which is always my way!




I stamped a Crafty Individuals diamond stamp in clear embossing ink and then used white UTEE and heat set this. I used Scattered Straw and Pine Needles Distress Ink to colour over the surface of my card mount and spritzed water to get a distressed look. I made a square from Core-Dinations cardstock and ran this through the Cuttlebug using the Diamond Embossing Folder. I then cut this with a Nestabilitie die to make a scalloped square. Next, I sanded the cardstock to reveal the different coloured core of the card. This was mounted behind a piece of card that I had inked and stamped using those fantastic new stamps from Home Impressions. I added a couple of flower stem images to this image and then I attached some beaded fringe to the piece using Glossy Accents.




I used some pieces of lace and ribbon across the card mount, attaching them at different angles so you can see the textures and then using Claudine Helmuth's sticky canvas, I stamped a couple of flower images by Darkroom Door and painted them with Distress Inks. These were attached to the card using silicone glue and then behind them, I pushed a couple of fancy headed pins which I had threaded with beads.




Thanks for looking and I hope that you enjoy the challenge this week.

Hels x

Home Tweet Home - An Altered Box

Hey Peeps

Two posts in one day!!

I have altered a wooden box for the Objet D'Art challenge - the current theme is to ... er... alter a box!! LOL

Last year we decided to clear a patch that was really overgrown in the garden. We were in the middle of cutting down a mini pine tree and found a little nest on the floor, obviously it had fallen out as we were hacking away at the tree. In it was a teensy little blue egg that had already been hatched and as it was late into the season we figured that the birds had flown the nest. I couldn't bear to part with this little nest as it was so intricately made, woven using hair (yes, mine!!) wool and moss. So, the nest has been sitting in a saucer on the window sill since then and I have been determined to "do" something with it.




Hey presto, Jennie has the theme for altering a box. What better way to make use of all these new birdy images I have ... *coughs* ... er, bought (nawty Hels) than to make a little home for the nest.




In my stash, I also had a little birdy that came with a bunch of flowers, it has been hanging about for years and finally, he has a home to live in.




I used a basic wooden box, painting it with acylics, then doing the PVA crackle technique and then adding stamped images, Maya Road chip shapes and the newly aquired images which I cut out. The stamps are by Prima, Art Journey and Darkroom Door and the images are by Crafty Individuals and Oxford Impressions. The Maya Road Shapes and the Distress Inks I used to blend the images are from The Artistic Stamper.




For the title and the insert for the lid, I used some basic cream card and coloured it with Old Paper and Tattered Rose Distress Ink. Then I spritzed this with water and dried with a heat gun. Next, I used an old paint brush and Distress Re-Inkers in Old Paper, Tattered Rose and Weathered Wood to make a speckley background. I collected some ink onto the brush and then tapped it over my index finger so the ink fell in dots onto the card. Finally, spritzing this with water and heat drying again gave me the eggshell look I was after. I used a Fragment to cover the main sentiment inside the lid and used StudioG alpha's to make the title and the words on the lid too.




Oh, I nearly forgot....I added some German Scrap from PaperArtsy to the edge of the lid just to break it up a little and the jaggedy dots on the top of the box are from a plate from Art Journey....doesn't look like much of a stamp on it's own but it makes a fab background!




Thanks for a fabby challenge Jennie ... I love my new nest box and at least now the nest inside will be kept safe and sound.

Thanks for looking - I really wish I could take decent photo's as these don't pick up the colours that I used or the textures.....ho hum!

Hels xx

EEeeee, I got an award :O))

Hey Peeps,

I am well chuffed! I got an award today from Jane - thank you so much for chosing my Blog to pass it on to.




I am going to pass this award on to:

Linda

Shazza

Maddy

Minxy

Roni

Sue

Jennie

Andrea

Dan

Tina

Thanks again Jane....am off to finish off my project for today so hope to be back later with the finished photo's!

Hugs Hels x

Sunday Stampers - Week 51 - Girls Talk

Morning Stampers,

Thank you all for joining in with the challenge last week, lots of lovely Owls to see on my visits to your Blogs.

This week the theme is Girls. I am not sure if we have had this one before but I love this song and heard it on the radio the other day and thought that it would be a good theme for this week.

My entry is yet another Altered Art hanging piece. I know, I am getting boring and predictable....but I seem to latch onto one particular thing to make, do them to death and then forget about them for a while. For instance, when was the last time I made a Bind It All book? Aaaages ago! Same goes for ATC's - I am a crafty tart aren't I? *no need to answer that one peeps!*

Anyways, here is the hanging piece - I really could do with a better name for it - hanging piece, well, it sounds a bit daft really - any ideas will be gratefully received and a little pressie will be on the way to the bestest one.



I used some mountboard, which I had prepped by stamping Gesso randomly onto it. I used a Crafty Individuals diamond background which has little curls between the diamonds and I was really chuffed with the dried look - worked better than I thought it would! And, the Gesso wipes straight off the stamp and doesn't hurt it either.




I coloured the background with Scattered Straw, Broken China and Pine Needles Distress Ink and spritzed water onto the surface to get a bit of the splotchy effect. I used a heavenly little dandelion stamp by Art Journey, stamping with Walnut Stain and embossing with Mustard Seed Distress powder - I overheated the powder though :O(( so the release crystals didn't want to be released....hence the more yellow than I wanted look! The little stars are from the same Art Journey plate and I think that they are like the little spinners from a dandelion clock, well, that is my idea anyways LOL




I used my Cuttlebug and embossed some Core-Dinations "Chocolate Box" card using the Diamond folder and then cut a square with the Nestabilities. I sanded the surface of the cardstock to reveal the greeny core on the diamonds.




The girl, isn't she gorgeous? She is from a fab UM plate by Innovative Stamp Creations which you can buy from Scrapz. Well, she was stamped onto mountboard that I had coloured in the same way as the main board. I used Timber Brown StaZon and used the Ranger White Pen to make her eyes stand out more. The next part is a totally "borrowed" idea from Linda and I cannot take any credit for it - only Linda used the butterfly on the UM plate over the girls mouth instead of the flower, which I used, and to be honest, the butterfly looks heaps better.....to the point that I am actually thinking of taking the flower off 'cos when I showed the piece to Grim he said that it looked like the girl had a goatee beard! LOL BTW, the flower was made from Claudine Helmuth's fab sticky canvas....and painted in with Distress Inks.




I used one of my little fancy pins, which I slightly altered with Gold Krylon and threaded with beads and popped some fancy lace under the main feature.




The word "secret" is my interpretation of what girls talk is all about....keeping our secrets for each other - you know what I mean don't you? :O)) The word is made from Grungeboard from the Nature pack which is available from The Artistic Stamper. I coloured the letters with Scattered Straw and then because there aren't any Distress Stickles in Pine Needles colour, I made my own sort of, kind of like, Pine Needles colour. I dobbed a bit of Scattered Straw and a bit of Broken China Distress Stickles onto my craft sheet and used a Cut n Dry Nib to mix and apply the Stickles to the words. I am really pleased with the overall look of them once they are dried...I will have to try this mixing business with other colours now! Oh, I almost forgot to mention....ages ago I won a competition over on Roni's blog....and I received my prize this week, she is so kind, she sent me some Distress Stickles all the way from the USA! How chuffed was I?! Thank you so much Roni xx




The finishing bits were the addition of more beaded fringing on the bottom of the piece and colouring a couple of mini clips from the Ideaology range with gold Krylon and adding ribbon as a hanger.

There, that is it ... enough waffle from me ... please join in with the challenge if you fancy gettting inky and messy. The theme runs for a week and once you have made your piece, please leave me a message and a link to your Blog and I will pop over to see what you made.

Thanks for looking...and remember.... thinking caps on for a new name for a the "hanging piece" ... and then winner gets a little prize!

Hugs and have a good Sunday.....Hels x

Objet D'Art - Hanging Altered Art - Photograph

Evening,

Finally, the old Mojo decided to come home today - so, by the skin of my teeth I have been able to enter the Objet D'Art challenge which finishes at 7pm tonight when a new challenge will be set! Cutting it fine eh?

The challenge was to alter a photograph. I have slightly cheated because I used rub ons of photo's rather than real ones - but I think that these are so lovely that they will be ok to enter :O))




I started off by cutting a fairly large piece of mountboard and adding a little bit of Gesso in patches, using a palette knife. Once this had dried, I coloured the mountboard with Distress Inks and then did a little bit of stamping on the edges and corners, the stamps used are from the Tim Holtz Collection by Stampers Anon.




I took some Cosmo Cricket paper and roughly tore a couple of co-ordinating pieces. I used some Coredinations cardstock, running it through the Cuttlebug using a paisley embossing folder and then cutting out a frame shape using Nestabilities. I ran a chalk ink pad over the embossed area of the frame to highlight the pattern of the embossing.




The photo's are rubbed on to mountboard and cut out with a little border, as old fashioned photo's used to be presented with a cream border. I distressed the edges of the borders using a metal file and then touched them up with a bit of Distress Ink.




I had a scrap of material which I dyed using a combination of water and Distress Re-Inker and then ironed dry. I overlaid this with a piece of heavenly lace which has beads and sequins sewn into it and then added a piece of ribbon that has beads sewn onto the edge. This is all held together by two long pins that had little plastic embellies stuck onto the end. I didn't like the colours of these, so I coloured them using Copper Krylon pen. I threaded a few beads onto the pins and then popped these into the lace and fabric.





The word is a rub on by Basic Grey and in order to get this project blogged in time, I haven;t been able to allow the Glossy Accents to dry - I will change the piccie once it is though! The hanging part is from an old belt that my dear Mum-in-Law found on a car boot sale - the hanger is actually the belt extender but I thought it went perfectly with the whole design.




Finally, I prepped some little Prima Flowers - altering the colours slightly by rubbing Distress Inks over the petals and then added a couple of little flower buds to the centre, which I stuck using silicone glue and then added a little bit of beaded cotton under the flowers and around the buds.





Thanks for looking - I shall be dashing off to make the Sunday Stamper for tomorrow while the old Mojo is still here, I don't want it going off on holidays again!!

Hels x

Before The Mojo Left.....

Morning Peeps,

Before my Mojo went AWOL, I made some cards, mainly as thank you's for the lovely flowers and pressies and messages that my friends sent me after my recent accident.

Little Lass Thank You Card:


I used a tall card for the base and stamped the little lass which is a gorgeous stamp from Stamp Francisco. I masked the image and then overstamped using one of the new backgrounds from The Artistic Stamper. I used Timber Brown StaZon for the stamping and then used a waterbrush and painted in the little lass image using Fired Brick Distress Ink. The sentiment is a clearly yours one and I made the little mat for it using the background stamp again and some Bazzill. The folded corner is done on purpose, I quite like the look of this and a card I had made a few days earlier had a crumpled corner, so I had folded it to cover up the error.



Charming Gardener Thank You Card:



I used Penny Black Stamps for this card - they are my favourites for making cards as they give such lovely images and the florals from the Brush Strokes range are just heavenly to work with. The Brush Butterfly makes another appearance on this card - but then again, he usually does find his way onto most cards I make LOL



I used Dusty Concord and Peeled Paint Distress Inks for the images, spritzing with water to make the images a little smudgy. The little pearls were added using Glossy Accents as adhesive.


Friendship Warms The Heart Thank You Card:



Another similar stylee to the one above, using Penny Black stamps for the main images and the sentiment is by Hero Arts. The colours are the same as before - in fact, no prizes for guessing that I made these two cards a few minutes apart!!



To give the Brush Butterfly a little bit of depth, I curled the wings using my fingertips and then applied two to the card, just to add some extra detail to the card.


Dreams Come True Birthday Card:



This card was made for a friend who loves purple colours and flowers. The stamps are all by Penny Black (can you see a theme building here? LOL) The colours are achieved using Worn Lipstick and Dusty Concord Distress Inks, spritzing the inked stamp with water before stamping to make a little watercolour effect to the image.


And a final outing for the Brush Butterfly - this time I added little DewDropz to his body and also to the flowers on the card and as embellishment on the sentiment mat.

Thanks for looking - I thought my Mojo had come home earlier today but nope, still nowt!! Am still waiting patiently for its return though :O))

Hels xx

Challenge Mojo ... An Altered Canvas

Evening Peeps,

So, where has it got to then? I have searched high and low, in all my cupboards, drawers and even in those dusty old corners that time forgot (or more like, what my hoover forgot!!!) What am I looking for? My Mojo!!! It has gone AWOL!!! Actually, I know exactly where the blighter is, it is on holiday, probably in the Caribbean, sipping cocktails with its best Mojo friend who belongs to Linda....actually, check that, it is probably quaffing "Mojito's" ... *groan* LOL

Anyways, Linda and I were chatting on't phone earlier and reminding each other about the last time this happened, about a year ago - anyways, Linda came over to my house armed with only Canvas, Chalk Inks, Stampbord and a few stamps. So we decided that as this had worked before, we were going to do the same again :O))

Here is the Challenge Canvas I have made:




It is an 8" x 6" canvas, a size new to me (ooooerrrr) and I have used a selection of Stampbord shapes and sizes.




I used Mint Green and Warm Violet Chalk Ink by Colorbox and coloured the whole surface of the canvas and the Stampbord.

I used Penny Black Brush Strokes stamps which I bought from Craft4Creation, a fab online shop that has literally hundreds and hundreds of Penny Black stamps....well worth a visit :O)) and stamped the images in Black StaZon.




I used a scratchy tool to do the scratchyness, emphasizing the brush strokes and then covered all the Stampbord pieces with two layers of clear UTEE which is from The Artistic Stamper.




To tie the canvas in with the stylee of the Stampbord, which I had edged with a metal file, I used a blending tool and foam and white acrylic paint and made streaks around the edges of the canvas. Suffice to say, this is the only streaking I am ever likely to do LOL




Anyways, this is the end product - I am fairly pleased with it but wish I had been a bit more adventurous with the colour as I always seem to go for these combinations. Perhaps now my Mojo is returning from its sojourn, I will be able to crack on and get more inky and messy again.




Please pop over to Linda's place to have a look at what she made, I haven't seen it yet, but I just know that it will be perfect.

Thanks for looking

Hels x