Curiously Assemblaged...

Gooooodly Morning to all you Compendium-ers!  Today sees the start of a brand new Compendium of Curiosities 3 Challenge.  To see all the details on how to join in with the challenge, CLICK HERE.  Also, if you pop across to Linda's blog, you will see all gorgeous creations that my talented teamies on the Curiosity Crew have made... well worth taking a cuppa and a packet of Digestives :O)    The challenge is sponsored by the The Funkie Junkie Boutique this time... so you will have a chance of winning a very generous Gift Certificate to spend there.  As ever, Tim & Mario have very kindly donated goodies for an extra prize... which will be awarded to the "Curiosity Crew's Choice"... so you have two chances of winning fabby prizes!  If you haven't got your Compendium book just yet, you can order a signed copy directly from the man himself... HERE.  And... Linda has also done a FAQ page for you.. HERE it is... all the info you will need is listed there.   This week we are turning to Page 33 of the book and altering an Assemblage Clock.  Now, as usual with the Compendium Challenge neither I nor the Curiosity Crew will be posting the technique instructions and participants must not do so either. We all want to encourage people to buy Tim's awesome book; giving away the instructions wouldn’t be fair to him. Linda will have no choice but to un-link any entries that don’t follow this rule. 

My entry this week has been one of those ideas that has been abuzzing about my bonce for yonks - well, ever since the CC3C started actually.  I knew the week we were going to be altering our Assemblage Clocks and I actually planned ahead a little on this one!  I know!  Forward planning and all that!  This post is very photo heavy as there are lots of little details on my clock, so please do feel free to put your feet up and grab a choccy bar :O))

I have seen a fair few altered Assemblage Clocks around and all of them are delightful but I wanted to make something slightly different... something very natural and organic.  The brainwave started out when I picked up a half dead hydrangea from the local Lidl store for a couple of quid at the beginning of June.  The plant had some lovely flower heads all over it but it was really on its last legs... needed a big glug of water and unfortunately, the flower heads were too floppy to revive.  So, I cut them off!  Not only was I promoting new growth, I was also setting aside said flower heads for usage in my clock!  I set them out on a bench in the back garden and hoped they would dry out and skeletonize (new word!) ... which is exactly what they did!  Hurrah! Now I had some "bones" for my clock decorating....

As well as the plant, I also have had this little birdy sitting on my windowsill in the Room of Stash for absolutely yonks.  She was attached to a little log and she was supposed to be being altered in the stylee of the other altered birds I have done over the years... but as per, I haven't got around to it.  She was a bit big for the clock but minus log and minus glass for the clock, she fits perfectly.

So, the altering!  The whole vision I had in me head was one of an old discarded alarm clock, sitting in a hedgerow, covered in rust and reappropriated by Mrs Blue Tit into a little place for her to call home.  The clock comes in a bright silver tone and whilst this is ok, it wasn't anything like what I wanted so once I had removed the glass frontage,  I set to with some Ranger Texture Paste and Alcohol Inks.  I started by mixing up Ginger and Rust into the Texture Paste and popping it onto the clock with a palette knife.  I then used the same AI's along with Butterscotch and Pebble mixed in, applying with a felt pad and in places where my tool wouldn't fit, I used the palette knife to smudge the inky felt into it.  Directly dropping Rust and Ginger AI's onto the paste made it really rusty and a wee sprinklage and Vintage Photo Distress Embossing Powders added some extra texture to it.

For the inside I mixed Walnut Stain and Frayed Burlap Distress Paints and painted this one, drying with a heat tool and then adding more of the Texture Paste inky mix and repeating the process I used for the outside.   I wanted to add something pretty for the background so I chopped up some Wallflower paper, stamped my usual diamond stamp (gotta get it in there somewhere!) and then blended some Vintage Photo DI around to mucky it up a smidge.  I wanted to add a few words so I used Chit Chat stickers to make a little phrase to sit inside the clock.

Mrs Birdy was a bit bright - as normal, I forgot to take before pics... ooopsies!  I used a sanding block and took off some of her painted coat and then using the same mix of Distress Paints as before, I lightly painted over her and wiped off the excess... once dried, I added Distress Inks to make her tone in.  

For the inside decoration, I nipped into the garden and snipped up some old twiggy and leafy bits, picked up some feathers, foraged for pebbles and seed heads and of course, grabbed some of the hydrangea heads, they had gone exactly how I wanted... skeletonified!  I then made a circle nesty shape from some grasses and started building up her nesty abode.  Of course, she has to have some eggs so I pinched a few pebbles from the garden, painted them with Weathered Wood DP and lightly spritzed them with a Sharpie Marker and the Distress Spritzer to add some speckles.   Finally, I added some more nesting material around the edge of the clock... the ivy across the top was actually a piece that we cut back at the beginning of the summer and it was missed when we picked all the cuttings up... I was chuffed to see a real spidery web and a dead peel bug stuck to the end of it!  Can't get much more realistic than that!

That's all for now - don't forget, you will have two weeks to enter the challenge... and a bat at the chance of grabbing the Crew's Choice prize which is a mahooosive haul of stash donated personally by Tim & Mario... so if you are joining in, remember to comment on all the Crew's blogs and you will be in with a chance of winning that too *believe me, this is one gigantic pile of goodies*!   I will just say a big thank you to every one of you who has taken part in the challenge so far, it has been great to visit your blogs and see your wonderful interpretations of the challenge themes!  Thanks for looking, have an inky inspirational day!  TTFN

Watch The Birdy.... Plus **Candy Winner**

...I dunno about you but it is going faaaaar too quickly now-a-days... that old thing called Time.  Disappearing away in mercurial fashion.  I can't believe that it is October already.  Yesterday I spent some time playing with some new Tim Holtz Xmas goodies... and I was thinking "tis a bit early to be making Xmas tags....."  And then I thunked "actually, no, it isn't, it is October!"   Anyways... enough of the waffle about time passing too fast, on with the announcement!  Tis time to tell you who won my special candy giveaway from last week.  So, I had 68 lovely comments... thank you all btw.  I fed this number in Mr Random.org and he spat out #33 as the winner, which tallies with the comment left by RACHEL.  Please can you drop me a line with you addy and I will pop it into the post for you :O))

On with today's offering.  A few months ago I got all painty and altered this papier mache birdy.  I have altered a fair few birds over the years, from big 'uns to small... and this one was by far the most taxing because she has lots of nooks and crannies that need covering with paint... and in my infinite wisdom I decided to colour each level a different... errrrm... colour!

Good old Cut & Dry foam is a God-send for me - applying paint with it just gives a really smooth blended effect, better than I could achieve with a brush at any rate.  The paints are all Eco Green... I love the smooshiness of these paints and the colours are all gorgeous too.   I used Sand colour to do the pedestal and mixed some white with it to do the standy bit under the bird.  The bird herself was painted with Lake and Birch.  I did about three coats in all to get a nice smooth effect.   Decorating is always the fun part and I went a bit bonkers with the Studio 490 stashly bits.  I stamped the open floral pattern onto the bird using Aquamarine Archival and zapped it with a heat tool to set it.  The standy bit had a dotty stamp rolled around it in Black Archival to make that pop a bit more.

I then got inky with the embellies.  The flowers are stamped onto Grungepaper and coloured with Tumbled Glass and Bundled Sage DI's - colouring front and back so there are not nasty grey bits showing.  I then used a background stamp and Black Archival to add some stamped detailing on the flowers.  

Her wings are based on a couple of Art Part Leaves that I snipped into two, colouring with Peeled Paint Stain and overstamping with the dotty stamp to give it some cohesion.  Her head-dress is an Art Part Floral coloured with Bundled Sage Stain.  I added some Creative Expressions Dazzlers to the middles of the flowers - I wanted her to be a bit jazzy and these are fab because they sparkle nicely.

Of course, no self-respecting birdy would be complete without a pair of specs.. these were formed out of 26 gauge wire - and my thumb also took a hit - my hands are not as strong as they could be and I had a bit of a scrap with the curly bits of the specs... I wanted to get them even... erm.. nope, that didn't happen lol   Finishing touches are scraps of CE lace... I love this stuff and I know, I know, she looks like she belongs in a bordello but I rather like that sexy look to her.

Anyways... that's about it from me for today.  I hope you like her... she hasn't got a name just yet.  I can't decide, last time I made a bird I called her Fanny and we had much mirth and merriment making comments about my Fanny *HERE's that post*   Any ideas for a name will be gratefully received...   Right, I shall away!  Thanks for looking, have a F A B day!  TTFN

Hels x

WOYWW... And...

Fanny! No, I am not shouting rude words early in the morning, I am talking about... Fanny Flamingo who is my entry for the Pink Ribbon Warrior Women Blog Hop... yes, I am waffling on alarmingly again about this event but... it is important... and there is a gorgeous candy prize to be won, as well as Fanny needing a new home and all that! Click HERE to see what I am on about if you didn't see yesterday's post...


So.. Wednesday already??? Who fast forwarded October already??? You know what is coming next don't you??? Indeedily, I am about to mention the C word... no... not that C word.. the Christmas word... sad news from the Room of Stash... it appears that something has eaten all my Christmas stash... I.. erm... packed it all up when we moved and... never realised it hasn't been unpacked.. yes, I know, six months later I realise but... what I am gonna do... well, who knows... I have a few Tim stamps out already... but all my papers (including my precious Cosmo Be Good collection) and all my embellies including the cutest rusty bells I got last year... *sob* they are gone. Well, actually, they are here somewhere... it is just tracking down the exact location... you don't even want to know how many boxes we still haven't unpacked ROFL



Anyways.. waffling on about things like that isn't telling you all about the phenomenon that is the WOYWW... hosted, devised and led by Head Hopper Julia, click HERE to see what I am on about if you haven't seen this malarkey before :O)) I had a couple of Q's asked this past week... so... Anonymous asked "how do you get your gold roses sooooo gold?" This is a simples one... stamp the flower onto Grungepaper, cut it out, use Gold Dabber to colour both sides, dry, dabber again, dry and then assemble... that Gold Dabber is LUSH! And... a big ThANk YoU to AliciaR who is all the way in Australia... she left a LOVELY comment telling me she just received her September issue of Craft Stamper and had read it twice already... thanks hun for your lovely kind comment :O)) My desk this week is a bit neater than last week and a bit messier than I like it to be... but I am mid way thru a project and just finishing another... all a bit messy and a bit disorganised... but I am going to be good and tidy up before I go to bed... well, that is the plan, unlikely to happen but it makes me feel better ROFL So... there you have it... Fanny and a messy desk LOL Thanks for looking... have a goodly day... oh and... sorry I didn't get around to all the desks last week... mainly cos that Error 503 was stopping me leaving comments... booohisssss... hoping Mr Blogger gets that sorted soon, tis a pesky pest! TTFN

Hels x

Sunday Stampers - Week 117 - You Don't Bring Me Flowers...

... Goodly Morning Stampers... and a very big thank you to all who joined in with last weeks challenge. I shall kick off straight away with the theme for this week... have you guessed it? Yep, it is FLOWERS I know we have had this one before, but hey, we all love flowers :O)) To join in, all you have to do is make a piece of art, include the theme and some stamping... leave a comment for me here with a link to the place you are showing your entry and I can hop on over and see what you have been making. The challenge will close at 21:00 Saturday August 28th '10.



My entry this week is an altered birdy... and I cannot believe this.. it is exactly a year ago to the day since I first blogged my original altered birdy... the fella who sits on the toy car *here is a link to the original post* So, the poor old boy birdy has been on his tod for far too long... and his mate has been sitting on my windowsill waiting for some attention... so that is just what she got!




I spent an age sanding her down.. ok, I spent about five mins and got bored... here is a pic of her after sanding just so you have an idea what she looked like... a bit boring ain't she? And... when she arrived from America, she had a broken beak... and no broken off beaky bit in the box... so she is staying that way... it just adds charm to her I think LOL





I Gesso'd her over with some...erm... gesso... *that's novel isn't it? LOL* and then painted a generous layer of Trad Tan paint all over because I then used some Antique Linen, Spiced Marmalade and Worn Lippy Cracklepaints over the top - so when the crackles crackled, they would show the Trad Tan.



While she was sitting drying, I used some Grungepaper and stamped some Studio 490 images... BTW... those folders that were on my desk the other day... all 490 stamps :O)) Anyways... I stamped out some flowers and used a flower from one of the new sets *big grin* to make her wings.. stamping four times, cutting out the whole flower as a wing each side and then cutting into the flowers to make the wings more fluttery.




I used Spiced Marmalade and Worn Lippy Distress Inks to colour the Grungepaper, stamping some of the 490 patterns over the top of them to add some interest to the flowers. I then curled the petals on them and by now, birdy had dried and crackled. I used some gold wax and rubbed this into the crackles - it doesn't show up too well in the pics though... I used a couple of long pointy metal tacks to attach the wings... I had to use a big hammer and... yipyah and thrice, for the first time ever, I didn't bash my fingers! *shows I am getting a dab hand at this hammering malarkey!*




I used some metal embellies to decorate the flowers - adding a little bottle filled with bead chain to the tail and popping a little propeller a-top of this. She is wearing a rather coolio pair of gold rimmed specs, she is a fashionista you know... and I added a little crown to her headdress cos she is pinky coloured and must be a princess. *yes folks, I have finally lost the plot ROFL* I have these divine letterpress blocks I have been stashing for a while... so I stuck three together - the three just so happen to be my initials too - I did this cos I am copying Wendy Vecchi... simples, I saw her birdy in Craft Stamper ages ago and she had hers perched on her initials...so I copied! And.. I *ahem* borrowed Grim's drill and made some holes in to the top of the blocks so her feet sit nicely on top of them... me and a drill? And no blood? Miracles!!! Another copy is one of the SSS&S DT's entry for this week... is a birdy... and she has a nest beside her... so I made a little nest for my birdy, winding wire around some old twiggy bits... and popping three little eggy shaped beads in there. One day I will have an original idea... I will let you know about it when I do LOL




Finally... *don't worry, I will shut up in a mo LOL* I took a picture of my original boy racer birdy with his new girlyfriend... don't they look cool together??? The getting of these birds took a lot of hunting *well, not literally hunting with a rifle and wearing a funny hat...you know what I mean ROFL*, shipping in from the USA and a rather large customs duty charge too... but I think it was all worth it... these are going to be perching in my room for a long time to come! So... that is all my waffling for one day... *whatcha mean thank heavens huh???* Thanks for looking... hope you all have a goodly day... I am planning a day of craft... Grim is working (booooo) so I will be getting inky and messy :O)) TTFN

Hels x

Blackbird Singing In The Dead Of Night.....

...take these Grungepaper wings and learn to fly.....I think the Beatles version is heaps better LOL....and what am I waffling on about this time eh? Well, it just so happens that The Artistic Stamper has some fab little birdies just ripe for altering...and here is a blackbird that I have done just that with.




Following on from my first attempt, which was totally inspired by Wendy Vecchi, I have altered another and it looks like they could be brothers LOL




As I said, this started life as a blackbird, he was on a string, which was the first thing to go! After spending about two minutes sanding the bird, I got bored, painted the whole lot with Trad Tan paint, then once this had dried I painted a thick layer of Faded Jeans Cracklepaint over the top...and yes, the same thing happened as before, all the crackles started to fall off to reveal my badly sanded birdy. So, remedying this by painted a watered down Trad Tan layer, I then rubbed some golden wax into the crackles to highlight them.




Next came the adornments...made from Grungepaper, stamped with a combo of Studio 490 & Artistic Stamper images. I added some metal bits and bobs and then made a hanger for him by twisting florists wire with beads and then....the legs....cos he is a hangy bird, he was legless....*hic* LOL



To make the legs I got a long piece of florists wire and twisted it about to make three toes (I know, I boobed, I should have made four, forgetting the back one for balance!!) and then twisted it back on itself to make a leg. Repeating this, I made the other leg, fastened them together and then they were popped into the body.




I made a pair of specs for him using wire and added a pointy hat by piling up some metal bits that I have no idea what they should be used for ...but they sure made a cool hat!



Thanks for looking...don't forget, if you are going to Ally Pally today or tomorrow, please pop by and see me...I will be on The Artistic Stamper stand and also I have a 20 mins sit down Demo at 13.30....it would be lovely to meet you.

Hels x

Watch The Birdy! An Altered Bird :O))

Hey Peeps,

Yipppeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee.....I finally got to alter a bird! Tis a long story all about getting the birds imported into the UK...then paying an extortionate amount of import duty...but I can safely say it was deffo worth it...cos I looooved every minute of altering this little fella...and I got to play at Linda's house and I reckon some of her talent must have rubbed off on me...cos for the second time in a week I am chuffty tuffty with what I made!




I asked Grim to do the photo's with his proper camera cos the ones I took were naff...but I got let loose with Paint Shop Pro so blame me for the quality LOL




The bird started off as a Red Cardinal and as usual, I forgot to get a snap of him prior to the altering...but you can imagine...he was red and looked realistic and came readily attached to a little wooden block.





I had picked up a couple of little wooden cars in a charity shop a couple of months ago with altering in mind...and it was obvious that the bird needed to stand on one! Linda's John very kindly drilled the holes for me...he must have known I would have damaged something if I had been left to my own devices :O))




The bird came heavily painted and needed to be sanded properly...so after about 3 seconds of sanding I decided to just paint over the top...*patience is not one of my virtues!* LOL...I used Claudine Hellmuth's fabby Traditional Tan paint as a base and then Faded Jeans CracklePaint over the top of it...and then once all the paint dried and started to flake away and show the red thru again...and after a lot of laughing...I just slapped some watered down Traditional Tan on and hoped for the best!




The crackles have been filled with gold wax, so the red isn't so visible now!! I used Wendy Vecchi's amazingly wonderful Studio 490 stamps to add dots to the bird, car and for the headgear, wings and tail adornments...stamped onto Grungepaper...and then distressed.





The wings are a couple of Studio 490 leaves which have been held in by a gold tack...yes, I used a hammer...and no, I didn't hit myself with it!! ROFL The tail features a bottle cap filled with DooDads and Sepia Accents...and it says Trust Art...which I think is a perfect sentiment. I also made him some specs...using florists wire and a paintbrush...and then making them golden with Precious Metal paint. I think he looks rather distinguished!





The crown was made using a few Idea-ology bits and a fancy lionface doorknob thingy...and the Idea-ology spinner is there so you can point the bird in the right direction! The little car has also got hardware attached...to the hubcaps, the windscreen and I made a little "bumper" so it can be pulled along.



I think that is about it...it took a day to do but I looooved making this so much...and ... I have one more bird left to play with too! Oh, and this is a photo of my hand...after a day playing with ink n paint ... I somehow don't think I would ever get a job as a jewellry model :O))




Thanks for looking....please pop over to Linda's blog...cos her bird is making its debut there today too!

Hels x