Sunday Stamper - Week 231 - And Your Bird Can Sing

Goooodly Morning Stampers and a very happy Sunday to you all.  Big thanks for all your fab entries for last weeks challenge.  This week I have picked a Beatles song for my title and the theme is... BIRDS... in honour of my visit this weekend to Birds In The Barn in Essex.  The challenge is simples: make a little something, it can be anything you fancy.  Add in the theme and some stamping... and then pop back here to leave me a comment with a link to the place you are showing your entry so I can hop and see you.  If you don't have a blog/web-photo-hosty thingy you can join in via Facebook or on email.  The challenge will remain open until 21:00 Saturday 17th November 2012.

My entry this week is actually my class sample from yesterdays class.  It is a Bind It All book that has been made using Kaisercraft papers (oh, I lurves these) and a whole lot of Distress Ink and Stains and Christmas stamps by Tim Holtz, Dyan Reavely, Artemio and Woodware.   I won't go into too much detail about the book because that wouldn't be fair on the ladies who came along to play with ink and rubber with me.

Here are a few pics of the book:

Right, I shall away... this is another scheduled post... hoping Mr Blogger plays nice and lets them publish on time (ok, so it wont' be Mr Blogger who goofs up, it will be me lol)   Thanks for looking... have a great day!  TTFN

Hels x

Sunday Stampers - Week 129 - Santa Claus Is Coming To Town

Goodly Morning Stampers and a very happy (albeit chilly) Sunday to you. Thank you all for the gorgeous winter creations that were entered last week - so many lovely icy themed pieces of art :O)) This week I have decided to chose a festive theme and you have probably guessed from the title that it is... SANTA CLAUS. To join in with the challenge all you have to do is make something; a card, ATC, altered art, tag (the choice is yours) and then include the theme and some rubberstamping. If you leave me a comment here with the link to the place you are showing your entry I can hop on over to see it. The theme will be open until 21:00 Saturday November 20th.



For my entry I have made a book - this is no ordinary book though! I have just had two lovely days at The Stamp Attic doing workshops to make a Book of Advent which is what I am entering for this weeks challenge.




Made up from Bazzill card, Fancy Pants papers and lots of Distress Inks and Christmas stamps galore, this little book is ideal for just sitting on the coffee table or a shelf during December and a new page can be turned each day (hence the title of the book LOL) The book is only diddy, measuring 3" x 3" and bound witih mountboard covers and a Bind It All.



I would like to say a big thank you to the ladies who came to play on Friday and Saturday, so without further ado thank you to: Sue, Laura, Anette, Anna, Debbie and Jude for playing on Friday and then to Ann, Julie, Kate, Thelma, Judy and Chris for making Saturday a total blast. Here is a pic of Saturday's class *Wendy is in this one too :O))* check out the face Kate is pulling at me... and poor Thelma was hiding behind the partition and such are my photography skills, well, they leave a lot to be desired ROFL And, the smug look on my face because I did remember take my camera, complete with battery and memory card was soon wiped off when I clean forgot to take any pics of Friday (ooops, it was even sitting on the desk in front of me - so no excuses LOL)




So, what have you got planned for today? I am planning to ... *pauses for effect* tidy the Room of Trash and turn it back into the Room of Stash because it truly is a pigsty in here and I haven't got any room left on my desk to rest on... anyways... thanks for looking... have a very goodly day... TTFN

Hels x

A Binding Journey...& 720!

...Following on from yesterdays mammoth Sunday Stamper post (deets of which can be found HERE) I have an annoucement to make! Yes sirreeeeee, I am making my 720th Blog post! Can you believe it? I can, actually, cos I do like to talk a lot LOL...and... I have had my blog for nearly three years!!!! So, I said yesterday about how I made my Sunday Stamper entry... and here are a few more pics of the pages within the book... a quick reminder what the book looks like...




And here are some of the pages:





The offcuts of mountboard I used were white on one side but different colours on the other sides, so I used some Multi Medium and covered the layers with Tim's Retro Grunge Stack... I had a few queries about the papers... like when was I going to show the layers with said papers on.. actually, two appeared here yesterday - I did forget to mention that... I used to plain side of the papers, not the patterned sides, as I wanted to be able to add some colour and stamping which wouldn't have shown up too well on the patterned sides...




Apologies for not being clearer yesterday - see, that is what happens when you read something written by me, it is hotpotch and all over the place... I have a baaad habit of going off at a tangent and then I lose my train of thought!




So...where was I again??? ROFL Ah yes, the pages in the book... I remember telling you yesterday that all of the stamping was done with Tim Holtz Collection stamps... and that I had to use just the one Studio 490 stamp... that was 'cos I wanted the word Believe... DOH! How stooopid am I? Tim has a Believe (and a mini version) in his Christmas sets... thank you to Helen and Sue for being clever and showing me how dim I truly can be LOL ;o)) * I actually put it down to forgetfulness in my old age*




I tried to do a few different techniques with the stamping.. this is one of my favey pages.. but I just cannot get it to photograph - basically, I coloured the mountboard with Distress Inks... Tea Dye and Peeled Paint... dried them completely with a heat gun... then I stamped the tree in Peeled Paint, immediately dusted Heirloom Gold Perfect Pearls over the top, dusted off the excess and spritzed the image with water and heat dried it... the DI bleeds out from under the PP, so the PP is set with the actual image and the DI comes out to give it a watery effect...cool huh? And the lion, he is one of my fave Tim stamps (yep, another one LOL) and I haven't used him for an age... so here he is, resplendent with an Idea-ology crown on his bonce.




So... today is Monday... and I am fair bristling with excitment... first of all cos it is Monday, which means a new Compendium of Curiosities challenge later on.. and... because... Grim is being a total darling and taking me to see Eclipse... I CANNOT WAIT *to see Edward again*!!!!! When we first met (me and Grim not me and Edward.. that would be waaay too weird! *but on second thoughts, weird but...erm...nice ROFLMAO... stop it Hels, you dirty old lady!!!! Grim asked me to go to... a football match with him - to see his beloved Luton Town. Now, never being one for the footy, I went under sufference and we made a deal that if I went to a match with him, he would take me to the flicks...mmm, guess how many matches I have been to??? I would estimate about... 40 odd... guess how many times we have been to the cinema??? FIVE!!!! And how long have we been together??? Knocking on TEN YEARS!!! LOL So, I guess that he owes me!! *I won't mention that a lot of times I have been to matches purely cos I get to have a pie at the ground... and I love pies... you would never have guessed that in a million years would ya???* And... and, and... we are going to Nando's afterwards...oooooh, I love Nando's - I go for the hot option - Grim goes for the blow your head off and make you sweat option ROFL Anyways... I shall be back later with my tag for the C of C, hopefully... until then... what is your fave film? Are you a Twilight Saga nut like me? Do you love the action movies... or are you a chick flick kinda gal? Do tell!!! Thanks for looking ... TTFN...

Hels x

Sunday Stamper - Week 112 - Don't Stop Believing...

Morning Stampers! What a lovely array of blue creations were entered last week...so, many thanks to all who joined in :O)) This week there is a little bit of a twist with the title and the theme for the challenge... it is a double choice challenge... which means... you know I always use a song title for the theme topic... well, this week I am using the song title and the group who sang the song. Now, I know I am frequently saying that each week it is my "fave song"... well this week it actually is one of my all time fave feel good songs and it would be one of my "desert island" songs... I never tire of hearing it! So... enough of my wafflings... this week the theme is BELIEVE &/OR JOURNEY. You can use either or both, tis entirely up to you. To join in, all you need to do is make a piece of art, include the theme and some stamping, leave a comment for me here once you have blogged your entry, along with a link to the place you are showing it, then I can hop on over to see you :O))




I... erm... bit off a bit more than I could chew with my entry this week... I started this at about 11am Saturday and finally got it finished about 10 mins ago!!! I did have a little break in the middle but... I didn't anticipate the amount of work and the drying times for the Glossy Accents and Cracklepaints!




However, I am chuffed with the finished book. The pages are made from mountboard off cuts, which I had to cover the backsides of because they were an array of colours (I got them free from the local framing shop). I used the Retro Grunge paper stack to cover the mountboard and used Multi Medium as a glue - smooths on loverly and no wrinkles or bumps. Each layer was then cut using an On The Edge Alteration; now has anyone else had a problem with the curvy one with the holes.. it is a complete git to get thru the Bug... but! I have devised a way of cutting them without using the proper mats and stopping them from falling off the die... I use masking tape, stuck to the card and to the die, viola! Easy cutting :O)) **However, I am not saying that this will deffo work for you... I know these dies are supposed to be used with a Big Shot... and I only have a Bug... so, if you want to try it, tis up to you... but if your plates break... please don't come running after me ROFL**



The other sides were all coloured with a huge variety of Distress Inks, spritzed with water and then had various stamping techniques on them - all of the stamping, bar one stamp...which is a Mrs Vecchi stamp LOL, is using Tim Holtz Collection stamps. I used some Alterations for the little letters that are on each page - making the word Journey.




The word on the front is computer generated and popped into a little metal frame and then I just went and loaded the book up with Tim products; Idea-ology, Grungepaper, Tissue Tape, Glossy Accents, Rock Candy Crackle and Stickles, Enamel Accents... I went a little bit bonkers actually LOL I finished the book off by binding it with 1" brass wire - blimey, what a faff... it is a while since I used my BIA like this and I really had to scratch my head to remember how to bind it properly so the layers didn't all fall out... I sussed it in the end... tis late and my brain is aching LOL Lastly, I added some gingham ribbon and lace to the wire and tied knots... just to fancy it up a bit.




Thanks for looking... hope you have a great Sunday... the challenge will stay open until 21:00 Saturday July 24th '10 ... so you have loads of time to play :O)) I am going to try and get some of the pics of the pages "before binding" uploaded during the week... it seems a shame to spend a day making something to only show a bit of it LOL Right, time for me to get myself to bed... have a goodly day... TTFN...

Hels x

Chantilly Lace...

...and a pretty face? Nah, not today...the Zit Fairy visited me during the night and zapped me with a couple of new ones...especially for Easter... see folks, that is whatcha get for eating tooooo much chocolate :O)) Anyway...Chantilly Lace! The title...remember yesterday I went to great pains to remind you all of that song Agadoo...and saying that I couldn't think of a song with Lace in the title...mmm, good old Grim came wandering in last night and said "Chantilly Lace"...that is all he needed to say...doh! There was me thinking I am a music lover and went and forgot that one! *although I do hold the record for guessing the intro of a song within the first few beats....aha, showing off again!!!*




Today I have a few more pages of the book I made for the Sunday Stamper...hopefully Mr Blogger won't be playing up and they will load up...Lionel the Laptop has been misbehaving this past few days too...probably cos I have been neglecting him cos I have been packing...argh...how many boxes!!! I haven't even started the Room of Stash yet!




These pages were made the same way as the others...I used an On The Edge Alterations die on some mountboard...thru my Bug...the plates I used were B Plate on the bottom, then the die, then the mountboard and then my B Plate that I use for cutting...and it works a treat...however, I am sure each machine is a little different, so please don't just take my word for it..I would hate your Bug to break! The pages are coloured with Distress Inks and I added some Lace stamping (the Artistic Stamper new ones!) and some Tim Holtz collection stamps and then added some flowers made from Grungepaper and Grungeboard which were cut using the Tattered Florals die. All of the stash used on the pages can be got from The Artistic Stamper..and if you are quick, there is free shipping til the end of today!




Today is a Bank Holiday, which means that I can disappear to the Room of Stash and catch up on some creating...I need to get this done asap cos I have to pack the flipping room up...soon! Am still waiting for the Packing Fairy to turn up to help me, I mean, there is a Zit Fairy so surely there is a Packing Fairy too???

Hels x

Sunday Stamper - Week 98 - Agadoo!

Morning Stampers...thank you to everyone who joined in with the birdy theme last week...it was lovely to see so many new faces too :O)) This week the theme is tenuously linked to the song title...I bet you are wondering what on earth is she doing this time??? Well, the theme is....LACE...and cos I can't think of a song title with lace in it...we have Agadoo...by Black Lace LOL *remember way back in the 80's when we all pushed pineapple and shook trees..and then went on to grind some coffeeeee? * This week the Sunday Stamper is very kindly sponsored by Jennie from The Artistic Stamper...so we have some candy up for grabs and the winner will be chosen at random after the theme closes next Saturday at 21:00. The winner will then be announced on next weeks Sunday Stamper post. To be in with a chance to win, all you need to do is either make a piece of art that incorporates some lace..you can use lacey stamps, lace embellishments or even make a lace up part to your art... also include some stamping in your art and then leave me a message here with a link to the place you are showing your entry...I can then hop over to see you :O)) Or, you can enter by popping a link in your sidebar back to the Sunday Stamper - and if you don't already, click to follow me :O)) If you do both of these then you will be entered into the "hat" twice...which means double the chance of winning!




For my entry this week I used some old mountboard off cuts which I turned into fancy edged pieces using the new Tim Holtz Alterations "On the Edge" dies...and then used my BIA to make a fastener for them.




The pages are coloured with Distress Inks and then stamped with a variety of Lace Stamps from The Artistic Stamper and also some Tim Holtz collection stamps.




The front cover has some little Grungepaper roses on it...which were made using the Artistic Stamper's Flower Power sheet, medium size flower and overstamping with a small lace stamp.



The larger flowers on the other pages are made from either Grungeboard or Grungepaper covered in an old book page...then scooted thru the Bug with another of the Alterations Dies...this time the Tattered Florals..and again, Distress inked. I added on some Idea-ology bits and bobs and some old lace to the binding wires as a finishing touch...check out the cool Book Plate..this was made using Claudine Hellmuth Studio's Sky Blue paint..dabbled onto the metal and then dried...then sanded over...a fabby tip I saw in Tim's new Compendium of Curiosities.




The Candy that is up for grabs consists of all the new LACE stamps from The Artistic Stamper, which can be found if you click here All of the fabby products used on this piece are available from The Artistic Stamper...and as a special Easter gift .. they are offering FREE shipping on all orders WORLDWIDE!!! Cool huh? As well as the fabby lace stamps there will also be some KlingOn for you to mount them onto .. and I am adding in a big bar of Cadbury's choccy as an Easter pressie...I figured a bar of choccy is more than an egg...and easier to post too LOL

Thanks for looking and I hope you have fun with the new challenge...I am not uploading all the pics of the pages of the book cos Blogger seems to be playing silly beggars and I am getting as many pics on now as I can! Hope to be back later with the rest of them :O)) Have a great week everyone....TTFN

Hels x

Sunday Stampers - Week 94 - White Rabbit *PLUS* Candy Giveaway

Morning Stampers...thanks to all who joined in with the scary clowns theme last week...I have overcome my fear of them...and that is down to you all making such lovely art :O) This week I have a double kinda theme...because the new Alice in Wonderland film has just been released in the UK (hurrah!) and because I have had this blinking song in my head for the past month or so, the theme is either Rabbits OR Alice In Wonderland...or .. both! To join in with the theme, just make a piece of art incorporating the theme and some stamping, leave me a comment saying where you are showing it and then I can come and visit you. ALSO, this week sees an exciting new release of some divine Mabel Lucie Attwell "Alice" themed stamps from The Artistic Stamper. These will be hopefully ready at the end of the week but are available to pre-order if you click HERE.



'Cos I am a lucky lass, I have been allowed to play with the new images already...and ... they are gorgeous! I started out with the intention of making a bit of an altered stylee page...which then led to me typing the lyric for White Rabbit by Jefferson Airplane, which then led to me making a Bind it All book. There are loads of pages...'cos I wanted to have all the verses and all the new images in it.




The base of the book and the pages are made up using off cuts of mountboard which I scruffed up around the edges and then used several different Distress Inks to colour the base and the cardstock the images are on.




The colouring of the images was done using a waterbrush and Distress Inks, which I swooshed onto a craft sheet and then picked up the colours...making the brush a bit drier to make the colours deeper for shading.




Check out the ickle bottle on the Drink Me page...this was a little glass vial which I added a couple of drops of Hazelnut Alcohol Ink and a couple of drops to Blending Solution to...hey...poison! Or, whatever it was that Alice drank to make her grow bigger and bigger...or was it smaller and smaller...I can't remember!!!!



The colours used primarily for the backgrounds are the new Distress Inks...the above one, you will probably recognise as Wild Honey and Rusty Hinge...oh, they are my fave colours, I reckon I will be needing the re-inkers soon LOL



The page below is actually quite tall and thin (oh how I wish I could say that about me!!) because this is Alice when she is bigger....and on the other side...




... is the larger version of the White Rabbit...how cool, the same stamp but one is bigger than the other...you will see a white rabbit on the front cover...he is the mini sized fella. I added a little watch face which still had hands attached...and stuck some mini beadychain on to make a pocket watch for the rabbit...who was running late all the time...




The colours used for the backgrounds on these next two pages are Antique Linen and Victorian Velvet...another fab combo together...




I am not so sure about putting a mouse in a teapot...imagine the taste of the tea!!!




The "candy" referred to in the title of the post is actually two of these new Alice images along with some Kling On to mount them on to. One of the stamps is the White Rabbit (large) and the other is the image above...the Mad Hatter and his perculiar taste in tea :O)



To be in with a chance of winning the candy all you need to do is this; click to follow my blog (if you aren't already) and link on your blog back to this post...then leave me a comment letting me know you have done this. AND...even better, join in with the theme this week...go on, you know you have a wascally wabbit somewhere in your collection...or you may even be a lucky stamper and have some Alice stamps already...whatever you use, as long as it is stamped and it is within the theme, leave me a comment and you will be entered into the hat. The winner will be chosen at random and announced on next weeks post.



The challenge is open until 23:00 Saturday 13th March '10, so you have all week to play. If you leave me a comment and link to this post AND join in by making some art, your name will be entered twice into the draw, which means you will have double the chance of winning :O)



Thanks for looking...have a brilliant week and remember to leave me a comment so I know that you are in for the candy :O))

Hels x

Tilda Gets a Play Date

...Over at the Play Date Cafe there is a new theme for their challenge this week...to use blue, gold and cream. It just so happens that I made something over the past few weeks and a couple of the pieces of it incorporate these colours.




Now, this thing...it started off as a little project...a "Secret Santa" made gift for a friend...and over the days, then weeks and then months...it kind of grew, and then grew some more...until it was soooo big it was even bigger than the machine it was supposed to be bound in! What am I waffling on about???? Well, I made Andrea a Calendar for 2010...with a Tilda card layout for each month...thinking it would fit lovely into my Bind It All...ha! I then changed it and thought I could fit it into the BIA in two parts...nope! Still too fat...so I used ribbons for the binding




Anyways..this is the front cover and Miss January :O)) I know the gold is a bit tenuous as it is only the gold ribbons that feature...but ... they are gold LOL And, I hope these pics are accepted as my entry for the Cafe challenge.





Thanks for looking...please don't forget the Sunday Stamper this week and the Candy on offer...details on the post below this one.

Hels x

Inky & Messy Tag Book

Hello again.

I have finally got a spare five mins to upload piccies of a Bind it All tag book I made over Christmas!




I got some Distress Re-Inkers for Christmas, so I had a really messy time playing with them!





The tags are just plain cream luggage labels which I have dipped into inks and then dried, stamped on and bound them together.






The technique is really easy to do. First of all you will need a non stick craft mat, some Distress ReInkers, a water spritz OR Glimmer Mist (or the like) and some luggage labels.




The ReInkers come in a little bottle that has a pippet in it. Simply fill up your pippet and drop a few little inky droplets on to the craft sheet. Repeat this with as many colours as you want to include. Then use a spritzer to add water or mists to the inks. Dip your luggage label or tag into the inkyness and then keep dipping until you have the desired effect. I usually dry mine with a heat gun but if you haven't got one, they will dry naturally.






I then inked up the images I wanted to use and stamped all over the dry tags. I had inked both sides of the tags so they could be stamped on both sides too.





I added a few embellishments and some covers to the book and there it is, finished!

As ever, thank you for taking time out to have a look at my latest creations.

Hels x