Curiously Monoprint...

Gooooodly Morning to all you lovely Compendium-ers!  Today sees the start of the very last Compendium of Curiosities 3 Challenge *sad face*.  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... they never cease to amaze me with their inspirational ideas and art!   The challenge is sponsored by the Funkie Junkie Boutique this time... so you will have a chance of winning a very generous Gift Certificate to spend there.  Tim & Mario have, as ever, 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 48 of the book and trying out the Layering Stencils Monoprint technique.  As ever 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.  

I absolutely LOVE this technique and had much fun playing and using different colours.. so much so, I was in a quandry which tag to choose to show you!  I plumped for this one as it is lovely and bright and uses my fave stencil... the Flourish one.  As ever, it is a tag I am offering and yes, there be little snippets of my harlequin stamp on there... well, it is the last challenge of the book so I had to use it!

I chose Distress Inks and used Twisted Citron, Fossilized Amber, Picked Raspberry and Mermaid Lagoon for the technique.  I decided to keep the embellies simple... then got all over excited and started layering up paper flowers, colouring Idea-ology Foliage with Distress Paint and generally going for it instead of keeping it simple.  Well, I do find it really hard to leave the embellies off... and it is the last challenge so it would be rude not to... right?

I just want to say a mahooosive thank you to Linda for organising these fab challenges... and to my lovely teamies on the Curiosity Crew, it has been a magnificent 34 weeks working alongside them... and I am still so honoured to have been asked to take part in the challenges.  Also, thank you to each and everyone of you who has left me comments... and to everyone who has joined in with the challenges each time - it has been great to see all your fab interpretations of the techniques and themes.  Don't forget, you have two whole 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*!  Thanks for looking, have an inky and inspirational day!  TTFN

Hels x

Curiously Altered...

Gooooodly Morning to all you lovely Compendium-ers!  Today sees the start of another 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... they never cease to amaze me with their inspirational ideas and art!   The challenge is sponsored by the Inspiration Emporium this time... so you will have a chance of winning a very generous Gift Certificate to spend there.  Tim & Mario have, as ever, 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 45 of the book and trying out the Altered Surfaces technique.  As ever 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.  

I had much fun playing with this technique.  I made *another* tag for my collection.  This one started off with a piece of Tim's Correspondance papers laid over the tag and stuck down with Glue & Seal.  I wanted the paper to be more in the background so I knocked it back with a wash of Antique Linen Distress Paint, watered down and applied with Cut & Dry foam... this lets the pattern still show but not as brightly.  I edged the tag with Walnut Stain DI just to age it up a bit.  Of course, there has to be some stamping so I used my little harlequin stamp and Jet Black Archival ink.

I used Tim's Flourish Stencil and Wendy's Black Embossing Paste... then sprinkling Ranger's Queen's Gold embossing powder over the embossing paste.  Once the paste had dried, I heated up the embossing powders so they melted onto the textured surface.  I love this technique!  The heart is sticky back canvas stuck to Grungeboard, die cut using a Movers & Shapers heart, sprayed with Fired Brick Distress Spray Stain and then wrapped with a bit of rusty wire.  I added on my "altered surfaces" and a bit of flower trim and voila, finished!

Don't forget, you have two whole 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*!  Thanks for looking, have an inky and inspirational day!  TTFN

Hels x

Sunday Stamper - Week 359 - Trains and Boats and Planes... **TWO WEEK CHALLENGE**

Goooodly Morning Stampers and a very happy sunny summer Sunday to you all!  Big thanks to you all for joining in with the challenge last week.  Next week the Sunday Stamper will be on his holibobs so this challenge is a two-weeker.  The song title and theme this time is all about... TRAVEL.  You can make absolutely anything you fancy, be it a journal page, a card, a canvas or even, like I have done, a folio to start collecting bits and bobs from my travels.    To join in with the challenge is simples: make a little something, it can be anything you fancy.  Add in the theme AND some stamping. Then hop back here, leave me a comment with a link to the place you are showing your entry and I can come see you.   If you haven't got a blog, you can join in via Facebook (just tag me name) or by emailing a small res.pic to me or by leaving me a link to your Pinterest or any other photo hosting site.  The challenge will remain open until 21:00 Saturday 20th June 2015.

My entry is a Tim Holtz Folio that I have decorated using various stashly goodies.  I started with some Correspondence papers... cutting them to size and corner punching them (they always look so much neater IMO) and edging the lot with Vintage Photo DI.

I layered up some of Tim's Ephemera... tickets and tokens and what-nots and added one of my new fave Framelits - the butterfly!  Yes, here he is... much smaller than his original counterpart but so easy to use.  Stamp the butterfly, pop the die over the top, die cut... colour... simples!  I did the same with the little row of stars too and also added them on their own... just stamped in black Archival ink... I love stars and I think this might be a new fave stamp you know!

I also die cut some Mixed Media thinlets... love this framework, especially in black, it just adds that little something to a project.... and I also painted up an Alphapart thingy with Antique Linen DP... half dried it then wiped off the still wet paint to reveal a faux enamelled look... cool huh!   Now all I need to do is take a shedload of photo's.... good ones too *actually, I might let Grim take all the photo's and then steal them off him!* and then I can get cracking at altering the inside of my Folio... I plan for it to be a travel-log of our adventures in 2015.

That's all from me for the time being... as I hinted, it is holibobs time... I will still be around *wifi permitting* but we are taking a well earned break *plus, there is the small matter of my birthday next Saturday which, of course, needs celebrating in style! And remember, all cake on June 13 is free from all calorifics... so fill your...erm... cakeholes!*  Before we jet off to sunnier climes, there be another round of the BTCC to watch... so I shall cheer and shout... GO PLATO!  Thanks for looking, have a great two weeks!  TTFN

Hels x

Curiously Eroded.....

Gooooodly Morning to all you lovely Compendium-ers!  Today sees the start of another 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... they never cease to amaze me with their inspirational ideas and art!   The challenge is sponsored by the Inspiration Emporium this time... so you will have a chance of winning a very generous Gift Certificate to spend there.  Tim & Mario have, as ever, 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 44 of the book and trying out the Eroded Metallic technique.  As ever 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 time is another tag for the collection.  I used Cracked Pistachio, Bundled Sage and Mermaid Lagoon Distress Paints and Brushed Pewter Metallic Distress Paint.  Once I had done the technique and got the look I wanted, I gave the tag a quick slap of Glue & Seal to.. um.. seal it!  Here's the tag before I decorated it... 'scuse the shiny bit... I can't for the life of me take a decent photo!

A smidge of stamping using my little harlequin and Jet Black Archival Ink and edging with a black Sharpie to just give the whole design a frame, I then moved on to making a big fat rose embellishment.  This was made by cutting three Tattered Florals flowers from manila card and colouring with the same Distress Inks and overstamping with my fave Studio 490 background stamp.  I then assembled the flowers into a rose and added a couple of leaves and a few Winter Green diecuts to finish it.   The little Heirloom Roses were coloured with Pool Alcohol Ink.

The Ornate Plate was coloured with Cracked Pistachio and Mermaid Lagoon Distress Paints... dried off and then I smudged a bit of Black Archival over to age it up a bit.  The centre for the Ornate Plate was made using more card and DP's and Tim's word from the Stuff to Say stamp set.  A little bit of ribbon to finish and voila!  Another finished tag for the collection.

Apologies for being missing in action for the past couple of weeks.. I have an incredibly good excuse tho!  I have Ellen visiting from America and all thoughts of blogville and such-like have gone right out of the window as we've been gadding off into the wilds of Yorkshire and have been a tad busy sitting around yakking all day! Bad girl!  I will be back to normal service this coming week tho :O)    Don't forget, you have two whole 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*!  Thanks for looking, have an inky and inspirational day!  TTFN

Hels x

Curiously Ombre'd

Gooooodly Morning to all you lovely Compendium-ers!  Today sees the start of another 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... they never cease to amaze me with their inspirational ideas and art!   The challenge is sponsored by the Funkie Junkie Boutique this time... so you will have a chance of winning a very generous Gift Certificate to spend there.  Tim & Mario have, as ever, 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 57 of the book and trying out the Alcohol Ink Ombre technique.  As ever 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.  

As ever, I have maded a tag for my entry.... and I made a concerted effort to keep it simple.  I am one for chucking a load of layers and embellies onto whatever I make (oh, you noticed!) and the sentiment I chose kind of decided how the whole tag was going to look. Nice and simple... plus it shows off the ombre perfectly too.

Once I had the background how I wanted it, I used Wendy's Cornflower Archival Ink (my fave colour .. ok, they are all faves but this one is extra fave!) and stamped a little design at the bottom... and then decided to add some scripty bits but didn't want it to overshadow the paler top half of the ombre, so I used Ranger's Ultramarine and the script was a "second generation" image... basically, I stamped the script onto scrap paper first and used the leftover ink for the main thing... look closely, it is there... just a bit shy for the photo!  I inked some more gloss card with the same colours for stamping my butterflies onto and once cut out, I inked the backs with Mermaid Lagoon DI so there were no bare bits showing.  And yes, there be the little harlequins sitting there... they have appeared on all my entries so it is continuity and not just me being mad!

Don't forget, you have two whole 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*!  Thanks for looking, have an inky and inspirational day!  TTFN

Hels x

Bitsies and Bobsies...

...I've been having a little play with a few "leftovers" that have been lurking on my desk and popped a quick tag together.  The base of the tag came from a demo thingy I did a few weeks ago - Ranger's gorgeous Texture Paste through Tim's Flourish Layering Stencil and then a liberal spritz of Abandoned Coral, Frayed Burlap and Antique Linen Distress Spray Stains.  I love how the Texture Paste just sucks that colour up.

I had a bit of a destructive session a few weeks ago - butchering old tags from a few years ago that were just sitting, unloved, in the garage.  I nicked all the embellies off them and binned the base tags... and blimey, I have a box full of embellies to re-use.  The Idea-ology Foliage came off a tag I made in 2010!  I remember I had painted the Foliage with Traditional Tan paint and then scraped off the edgey bits to reveal the metal.  It got a bit bent as I was ripping it off its original home, but hey, that adds to the distressed look! 

The butterfly had been stamped a few weeks ago and coloured with Abandoned Coral and Aged Mahogany Sprays... I wasn't happy with it at the time so I chucked it to one side... but for this tag, perfect match colour wise!  I added an Idea-ology Lock with a Resin Rose to the centre... popped him onto an Industrious Sticker frame (which I changed the colour of with a smidge of Treasure Gold and Alcohol Ink) and I die cut the word (Tim's new thinlets) and popped that on with another couple of Resin Roses and voila, a leftovers tag finished.

That's all from me for today - I will be back tomorrow with a new CC3 challenge entry... wait til you see what we're playing with this week!  Thanks for looking, have a goodly day!

Hels x

Curiously Remnantly Rubbed...

Gooooodly Morning to all you lovely Compendium-ers!  Today sees the start of another 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... they never cease to amaze me with their inspirational ideas and art!   The challenge is sponsored by the Funkie Junkie Boutique this time... so you will have a chance of winning a very generous Gift Certificate to spend there.  Tim & Mario have, as ever, 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 51 of the book and playing with Tim's Remnant Rubs.  As ever 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.  

As usual, I have made a tag for my entry.   Once I had "done the technique" with the Remnant Rubs, I used Distress Spray Stains to colour over the tag base.  I used Cracked Pistachio, Wild Honey and Crushed Olive.  I chose the Sprays because I am addicted to them... pure and simple!  Distress Inks or Stains work equally as well with this cool technique though.  Here's what my tag looked like before I got decorating.  (and yes, the ickle harlequin stamp has made its way onto the tag!)

Next came the decoration.  It was obvious that I was going to grab the butterfly from Tim's new Perspective stamp set... well, I seem to have used it on practically everything I have made recently!  I have been stamping twice and layering the wings... so I decided to add in another layer and stamped the image three times, cutting each layer slightly smaller so Mr Butterfly really is a big old blousey creature now.   I coloured the wings with the same colours but this time using Distress Inks to get the colour intensity I wanted.

I have some of Tim's Framed Alpha Parts so I snipped one out and then cut it down to individual words... I wanted to created a little more depth on the tag than just having it as one piece.  I coloured the bits with the same colours of Distress Paint, part drying and then wiping off the excess paint to show the black base through.

The butterfly needed something to sit on so I used an Industrious sticker frame... colouring this with the same colours of Distress Paint, blending them a bit with my finger and then heat setting it and smudging off the wet bits... I love this technique... it is so cool to age up stuff.

Finishing touches are a few bits and bobs of Idea-ology.  The Heirloom roses were coloured with Wendy's Orange Blossom Archival re-inker and ink, the Dewdrops were coloured with Hazelnut Alcohol Ink and I popped a Sheild Charm on with a smidge of ink to colour the little paper insert thingy.  And there you have it!

Don't forget, you have two whole 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*!  Thanks for looking, have an inky and inspirational day!  TTFN

Hels x

Tim's 12 Tags of 2015 - February

Better late than never right?  Well, I am so late with my Tim's 12 Tags of 2015 February edition.  I am not sure why I didn't get chance to make this tag in time to enter it last month... but here it is... sans stitching (hey, we all know I am completely useless with a sewing machine and will never master it no matter how many bobbins I bust!)If you haven't seen Tim's 12 Tags phenomenom, CLICK HERE to be transported on the back of a mahoosive bottle of Glossy Accents to his blog.  
 

As I mentioned, I am not a sewist, never have been, never will be.  In fact, it is true that Mrs Ives (HE teacher) actually dismissed me from HE and sent me over to the Woodwork and Metalwork class (boys only) because I broke three sewing machines in as many lessons.  Yes, I am a dolt and so wish I could get over this stupidity but alas, I fear it will always be that I sew by hand.

Anyways... there you go - instead of using stitching, I popped a twist of rusty wire around my heart - which was made from Sticky Back Canvas popped onto Grungeboard using Glue & Seal and then coloured with Fired Brick Distress Spray Stains and edged with Gathered Twigs DI.   This is another tag I really enjoyed making... the paperblocking technique is one of my faves and I loved using the Distress Marker to add darker shading and speckley accents to it... all very vintage.

Time for me to get a wiggle on - things to do, rubber to ink and all that... thanks for looking, hope you having a grand day.  TTFN

Hels x

Tim's 12 Tags of 2015 - March

Oh! La! La! And... thrice!  Have you seen Tim's latest tag of 2015?  CLICK HERE to be whisked off on the back of a giant blending tool to visit his blog and see the gorgeousness he has created... I think, dare I say it, that this is my favest tag of all of the 12 tags!  The whole process of making it was soooo therapeutic... and my offering here is actually the second one I made. 

 The first is more or less exactly the same as Tim's (except it is lacking that certain je ne c'est qoi that Tim always manages to put on any of his art IYKWIM)  So, I have my "original" one and I loved making it so much, I decided to have a play and make one in the same style but using a few different things instead.  Plus, that butterfly... he is knackered poor thing!  I used him in a class last weekend so you can imagine how much ink his wings now have!

Anyways.. I won't be divulging the "how to" on this tag - tis up to thee to get thyself over to Tim's blog - I can tell you that I used his new Watercolor stamp set for the butterflies and my Distress Paint colours are: Broken China, Cracked Pistachio, Scattered Straw, Picked Raspberry and Abandoned Coral.  The gold embossing powder is my FAVE ever, my "go to" gold embossing powder, which is Ranger's Queen's Gold.  IMO, it is the perfect tone of gold... I also used it to alter the 1/2 and the ickle star... then smudged a bit of black paint over to age it up a bit.

Whilst I was in the midst of creating my tags, I got all excitable and remembered I had forgotten (*ahem*) to make my February tag... so I cracked on and made that too... I shall be back tomorrow with that one - whilst it is a smidge late it is better to be late than never right?   I shall away now, I have a project nearly finished on my desk for the next CC3 Challenge.  Have a great evening... thanks for looking... TTFN!

Hels x

Sunday Stamper - Week 348 - This Old Heart of Mine

Goooodly Morning Stampers and a very happy spring Sunday to you all!  Thanks for your fab warm entries to last weeks challenge.  The new theme this week is... MAKE IT LOOK OLD.  You can interpret the challenge how you like: vintage it up, add paint, texture, old bits and bobs ... the choice, it be yours!   To join in with the challenge is simples: make a little something, it can be anything you fancy.  Add in the theme AND some stamping *this is THE important bit guys, please remember your rubberstamps!*  and then hop back here, leave me a comment with a link to the place you are showing your entry and I can come see you.   If you haven't got a blog, you can join in via Facebook (just tag me name) or by emailing a small res.pic to me or by leaving me a link to your Pinterest or any other photo hosting site.  The challenge will remain open until 21:00 Saturday 14th March 2015.

 

 My entry this week is an 8 x 8" shadowbox that I altered up to make it look old.  It is a basic wooden one so I decided to make it look old... painting the outside with black paint, sanding back and then rubbing on Vintage Photo Distress Ink to give it a nice tone... I love doing this technique... instant "aged" look.  I popped a piece of Tim's new Correspondence paper inside... adding a bit of stencilling using his new Blossom Stencil and Forest Moss and Stormy Sky DI's and blending more Vintage Photo around the edges to tone it in to the frame.  Yes, the butterfly is making another appearance!  I know, I know... but I do loves it muchly!  He is stamped twice onto cream card, cut out, layered and coloured with Stormy Sky and Cracked Pistachio DI's.   

I used another new arrival in the Room of Stash.. Tim's new Mixed Media Thinlets... oh I loves these muchly too!  I cut the honeycomb out, then snipped closely to remove it from its card and added a smidge of Treasure Gold to make it look a bit more blingy.  The layer of embellies under the butterfly include paper flowers, little bits of Tissue Tape and some Idea-ology.  I have had the dangly butterfly for yonks, he was plain cream metal so I painted on Distress Paints, smudged them up a bit and voila, an old looking butterfly to fit with the theme.  Another "old bit" is the buzzybee that is sitting on the honeycomb.  Before I had glued everything down I asked Grim what he thought... it was "missing something" and really annoying me that it looked unfinished.  He said "it needs a little bee on the honeycomb"  So, I spent several hours searching for a bee small enough to fit but big enough to stand out... and then it dawned on me that I had an old necklace that had a few charms on it... and yes, the bee was on it!  Hurrah!  Also on the necklace was the ickle ladybird that is now sitting on the Tissue Tape... I loves a bit of recycling I do!

That's all for this week... I am away this weekend in the North East so scheduling this post, it is actually Friday night... but really it is now Sunday *if Mr Blogger kindly published this on time... otherwise it is anybody's guess what day it is.... *  On that bombshell, I shall bid you a very goodly day and say... Thanks for looking, have a great day!  TTFN

Hels x

Curiously Cutting...

Gooooodly Morning to all you lovely Compendium-ers!  Today sees the start of another 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... they never cease to amaze me with their inspirational ideas and art!   The challenge is sponsored by the Funkie Junkie Boutique this time... so you will have a chance of winning a very generous Gift Certificate to spend there.  Tim & Mario have, as ever, 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 62 of the book and using the Dimensional Cutting Plate.  As ever 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.  

Another tag appearing for my entry to the challenge... this one has a bit of a textured background... I had this idea that I would create some extra dimension to the dimension I would be cutting using the Plate.   And as ever, my little harlequin stamp makes another appearance.  I had a bit of a result last weekend too.. I finally found the Tim stamp set (clear stamps) with the diddy little harlequin on it... yay!  I now have three different sizes in this same design... I shall be harlequinning all over the place!

My tag base had some Texture Paste added through a Layering Stencil and then I added Antique Linen, Tumbled Glass and Dusty Concord Distress Paints... and then tried out this new idea I had a few months ago that has been buzzing around my bonce and I hadn't really had a chance to try it out.  So.  Once the background of DP's is set, it looks really pretty but... it is a bit too clean looking for me.  I likes a nice antiquey shabby look.  Inking over the top with Vintage Photo DI looks cool but it just wasn't rich enough... so I decided to slap a layer of Glue & Seal over the top... this activates the DI and once dried it is completely waterproof.... hello Faux Sepia, a new technique!!!   I will do a proper tut later next week :O)

Now once I had my butterflies dimensionally cut I decided to make sure that they weren't just left a bit boring ... no butterfly likes a bare behind after all.  I inked the wings with Broken China DI and then overstamped with a script using Jet Black Archival.... and then made a little plaque of card and Tissue Tape coloured with the same DP's to sit directly on the tag behind so it shows when the wings are raised... cool huh?

Decorations are layers of Prima Flowers... a gorgeous Studio 490 butterfly stamped onto card and inked with DI's and a few bits and bobs of Idea-ology.

Anyways... that's it from me for today... don't forget, you have two whole 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*!  Thanks for looking, have an inky and inspirational day!  TTFN

Hels x

Playtime...

...it's amaaaazing what a little bit of new stash can do for a girl.  For months now I have been bemoaning the fact that the old cad Mojo has beetled off on his holibobs and left me all on my ownsome.  It happens, I know, to most of us... that old "crafter's block"... I hate that feeling that I will never be able to make anything ever again *yes, I am a bit of a drama-queen when it comes to Mr Mojo going off on a jaunt and I can be oft heard saying "that's it, I am done as a crafter, I will never make owt again... ever!"  Grim and most of my friends just ignore me when I am on one of these rants... I wonder why?*   
 

Anyways, yesterday some new goodies arrived in the Room of Stash!  Namely the new Tim Layering Stencils Blossom and Flourish and the new Tim stamp set Perspective.  Yes, the name of the stamps does make me grin a little... putting everything into perspective and realising Mojo hasn't actually departed for good... no, he came bobbing right on home as soon as he saw these goodies!

Hurrah and thrice indeedily... today was playtime!  I decided to do a quickie tag to start with... that was after using Texture Paste on a couple of tags and trying out both stencils - they are drying off awaiting more alterations.  My quickie tag was just that... I started by colouring the base with Antique Linen Distress Ink and then using Bundled Sage for the Blossom Stencil and Stormy Sky for the Flourish... and then I decided to use a smidge of Black Soot to add some more Flourishy bits... just to "ground" the background a bit.

The butterfly - oh the butterfly, how big is he!!!  Mahoosive and gorgeous and in at Numero Uno as my new fave stamp!  *thanks Tim, I love love love him!* Anyways, the butterfly was stamped twice with Jet Black Archival on cream card and cut out - the first one is the normal butterfly, the second one was cut smaller, decoupage stylee like, so they layer up and make him even more blousey.  I used the same DI's to colour him and then once glued together, I curled the wings and added a Pen Nib to make his body.

Of course, along with the butterfly are a veritable feast of new sentiment stamps... not to mention a gorgeous background of numbers that is yet uninked (gimme chance lol)  I chose the Dream sentiment... inking the card with the same DI's and then stamping with Jet Black Archival... and then taking a waterbrush to the dream part of it to lighten the letters so they pop a little more.  I just love how water bleaches the Distress Ink and makes it lighten up.   I made a fancy bow using Crinkle Ribbon and Stormy Sky and a smidge of Gathered Twigs DI, added some pearly bits and voila, finished.

Now, it is not unusual for me to be on me tod on a Tuesday night as Grim goes off to watch his beloved Luton Town... and in past months, instead of spending this time in the Room of Stash as I usually do, I have flopped about on the sofa huffing at the rubbish telly viewing available.  Now that Mojo is back, I would normally be in there like Flynn, inking and crafting away.   However, tonight I have a ticket!!! Oh yesh, I am off to freeze me doodah's off watching said footy.. and of course, it would be rude not to have a pie, wouldn't it?  I shall away now, I have football songs to learn and I need to apply several layers of clothing, socks, hats, gloves etc etc etc....   Thanks for looking, have a goodly evening!   TTFN

Hels x

Sunday Stamper - Week 343 - Blackbird

Goooodly Morning Stampers and a very happy Sunday to you all!  Thanks for your fab winged entries to last weeks challenge.  The new theme this week is... BIRDS.  You can interpret the challenge how you like: be it a stamped bird, a die cut, a decoupaged birdy, a real one (!)... the choice, it be yours!   To join in with the challenge is simples: make a little something, it can be anything you fancy.  Add in the theme AND some stamping *this is THE important bit guys, please remember your rubberstamps!*  and then hop back here, leave me a comment with a link to the place you are showing your entry and I can come see you.   If you haven't got a blog, you can join in via Facebook (just tag me name) or by emailing a small res.pic to me.  The challenge will remain open until 21:00 Saturday 7th February 2015.

This week my entry is a large canvas I have altered.  I taught a couple of lovely ladies a Melt Art workshop during the week and because I have done so many beeswax things, I decided to do mine slightly differently... {theirs are the same, just beeswaxed :O)}   The papers I used to make a collage on the canvas are Tim's Wallflower collection - I am now needing Pad #5 - yes, I love these papers that much!  The soft and delicate colours and the beautiful natural designs are right up my street.   Around the edge of each bit of collaged paper is a smidge of Faded Jeans Distress Ink - this is to highlight the layers of paper and also, I hate to see cut edges so it blends them in nicely.

I snipped out the little blue tits from the paper design... these are layered onto the collage too.  Next up is a good slap of Glue & Seal... to um... glue and seal the papers!  They are now water-resistant which means that if I accidently slop something wet onto the canvas, it is protected.   The roses are made using my tutorial *points left* and I used more of the Wallflower papers to make these. The sentiment is one of Tim's stamps - stamped in Jet Black Archival so it is permanent ink.  The butterfly is a Darkroom Door stamp - isn't he just so perfect?   I added a few bits and bobs of embellies and a little wrap of twine so it looks like a bit of a birdy next and there we have it... done! 

I have a lovely lazy day planned today... a nice roast dinner and an afternoon with Grim... if the weather behaves we are hoping to get into the garden and start the tidy-up before I get cracking in the greenhouse again.  A few weeks ago someone asked how I make my Yorkshire Puds and if it was a secret recipe.  Well, I can't tell you the recipe exactly... but I can tell you how I make them:  I go to the freezer section of the supermarket and buy Aunt Bessie's Yorkshire Pudding Batters... and then pop them into my halogen oven and they are better than the sad efforts that I make from scratch... yes, I am a Yorkshire Lass and yes, I am useless at the puddings!  I have tried sooo many different ways, recipes etc but nope, they all turn out revolting.  I blame the oven (ahem)  On that bombshell I shall say... thanks for looking and have a goodly day!  TTFN

Hels x

Curiously Rock Candied...

Gooooodly Morning to all you lovely Compendium-ers!  Today sees the start of another 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... they never cease to amaze me with their inspirational ideas and art!   The challenge is sponsored by the Inspiration Emporium this time... so you will have a chance of winning a very generous Gift Certificate to spend there.  Tim & Mario have, as ever, 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 55 of the book and playing with Rock Candy Distress Glitter.  As ever 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.  

As per usual I have made a tag for my entry.  Before I waffle on, I shall answer a couple of questions I have been asked recently: "what do you do with all the tags you make?"   Well, that depends!  For example, the ones for the Compendium Challenge, have made it onto a big old book ring and will eventually be turned into wall art... the rest... they usually go into a basket and serve as a "mojo-buster" should the Old Cad Mojo swan off on his holibobs.  Occasionally I will pop one onto a card blank.   Another question: "why do you make mostly tags?"  I love tags, the size is perfect for me to work on, I love the manila surface to play on and I guess, they just make me happy.    And another: "What size tag do you use?"  My favourite size is Ranger's Size 8 Manila... I LOVE this cardstock SO muchly!  Hope that answers a few of you :O)   Anyways.. on with the challenge!  My tag! I started with my tag and spritzed Milled Lavendar, Antique Linen and Seedless Preserves Spray Stains over it, misting with water to get a nice drippy effect and dried it with a heat tool. 

Now, 213 years ago I was lucky enough to see a rare demo morning with Tim himself in a little craft shop in London.  It was upon that day that I fell hook, line and sinker for all things Tim and Distress!  I treated myself to a couple of wood-mounted Tim stamps (this was just as Tim released his very first 10 unmounted sets and the shop didn't have them in yet!) One of the stamps was Peacock Flourish - which is now on the unmounted set Tattered Elements - and it has remained a much beloved stamp of mine.   I used Seedless Preserves Distress Ink and did the technique as outlined on Page 55 of the book.  Isn't that glitter just soooo pretty?  I don't normally "do" glitter, I hate the way the stuff flies all over the place and ends up in places that glitter really has no business of being!  However, Distress Glitter is a complete different animal... it doesn't flap about, it isn't static and... best of all, it looks realllly chunky but is so smooth.. oh and better than best of all... you can ink it!  YAY!

Once I had the background how I wanted it (and.. ooopsie-daisies, I forgot to get a photo of the background before I decorated it) I set about layering up some decorative bits.  I used manila cardstock (Ranger) and did the same Spray Stain spritzes to colour it, die cut it with the Tattered Florals die and made a rose *points left - see full photo tut in sideybar on how I make my roses*   I then cut some Garden Green leaves, added bits and bobs of trim and ruler ribbon and Idea-ology and then got out the old Underwood (ahem, did I mention I loves my old Underwood?) and typed a few words... and voila, assembled!  I liked the look of it but it still needed something... so I grabbed some Crinkle Ribbon and followed the awesome Paula Cheney's bow tutorial... I LOVE how she makes those bows soooo easy... thank you Paula!  I make no secret of the fact I think she is a ROCK star in this world of craft we inhabit.

Anyways... that's it from me for today... don't forget, you have two whole 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*!  Thanks for looking, have an inky and inspirational day!  TTFN

Hels x