Sunday Stampers - Week 142 - Route 66

Goodly Morning Stampers and a very happy Sunday to you! Thank you all for the lovely entries last week... I think I have managed to catch up and get around to see all the entries.. if I haven't yet - I am on my way :O)) This week the theme is totally related to a certain visitor I have staying with me at the moment... well, it had to be something American - and Route 66 is very American isn't it? So... the theme is... NUMBERS. To join in with the challenge all you need to do is make a little something - be it an ATC, card, Tag etc, the choice is yours... add in some stamping and the theme and then leave a comment here for me with a link to the place you are showing your entry.. or you can email me with your piccie :O)) The challenge will remain open until 21:00 Saturday February 26th 2011.



Soooo, I may have muttered a few times on here that I have a visitor staying... yesh indeedily, Ellen has travelled all the way from Baltimore, Maryland in the US of A to stay with us again... and this time I actually managed to get organised before she arrived and I made this shadowbox for her.




I have included some personal trinketty things in the design and I made some faux letterpress blocks for her initials... I used Alphabet Soup Grungeboard, some old wooden blocks and a few dabs of ... em...dabber!




Now, upon first inspection it doesn't actually look like there is any stamping on this piece... I can assure you there is... only a smidgin but it is there... the words in the Ornate Plate and underneath Mona it says art... honest, it does LOL




Anyways... that's all for now - I am scheduling this to publish at midnight 'cos I have some clean fingers that need to get all inky again... thanks for looking... TTFN

Hels x

Sunday Stampers - Week 138 - Push The Button

Goodly morning Stampers and a very happy Sunday to you all... and, as ever, huge thanks and muchly appreciations for your entries last week! This week I have done something that I never have done before... I have... made my entry before I have chosen the theme! Risky business but it worked out very well... apart from the song title being by the Sugababes ROFL So, the theme is... BUTTONS. To join in with the challenge all you need to do is... make something, (card, ATC, tag, altered art etc), 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 to see you. The theme will remain open until 21:00 Saturday 29th January 2011.




My entry this week was heaps of fun to make... starting with a wooden frame and altering it by painting with Old Paper Cracklepaint and once the paint had crackles, doing a black colourwash over the top with Dabber and water. Once this had dried, it got bashed with a hammer and sanded down and then stamped with Black StaZon using a small script stamp.




The backing paper is from the Lost & Found stack and has been inked and stamped a bit more with Walnut Stain Distress Inks. I added mini canvases which had been covered with old papers and inked with more Distress Inks... I added the handmade letterblocks from yesterday's post and popped a little Monopoly doggy on the top of the A




The buttons are from another of my eBay finds... I got these yonks ago and have been saving them for a rainy day... one of the buttons is really special... it is from the London, Midland & Scottish Railways... and because it is "posh" I believe it to be from an old drivers uniform (actually, I mean that the uniform is old, not the driver, although, admittedly, he may well have been ... I shall shut up now ROFL) The spoon is another eBay find... like I said before, I have been amassing artifacts (ok, bags of junk that no one else wants) in order for me to make some altered art and also for the Configurations boxes I am working on. The 41 is on an old bingo counter... I used this because I am 21 + VAT this year so it kinda works for me! (for readers who are fortunate NOT to live in the UK, you probably don't know that our VAT rate is now 20% - don't get me started cos I will go on alarmingly about taxes etc... all I will say is this... if I were Prime Minister I would make it the Law that Stash and Stashly goodies would be VAT free and if you spent over £30 in a single transaction, you would automatically get some free money to spend on more stash... now, how do I go about getting voted in?? ROFL)




So... what have you got planned for today??? I will be having my weekly Skype session with Ellen this afternoon - not sure if we are doing a challenge thee "live" but I have a little project up my sleeve ready to be put into action. Have a FAB day and thanks for looking... TTFN!

Hels x

Sunday Stampers - Week 96 - Anytime At All

Morning Stampers `:O)) Thank you all for joining in with the challenge last week... lots of lovely bits & pieces to see on my travels this week. Today sees a new challenge...reverting back to my love of The Beatles, I have chosen another one of their songs as the title....which means that the theme this week is TIME. To join in with the challenge, all you need to do is make a piece of art, add in some stamping and the theme and then leave me a comment here with a link to the place you are showing your artwork... I can then hop on over to see it. The theme stays open until next Saturday, 27th March '10.




For my entry this week, I have used beeswax and canvas to make a collagey stylee hanging piece. The base is an 8" square piece of canvas oil board, which was painted with my very favouritest paint in the whole wide world ever - Claudine Hellmuth's Traditional Tan. I used three ickle canvases on the piece to add some depth...and these too were painted with Trad Tan.




I used tissue paper to stamp onto - using black StaZon - and then painted on melted beeswax to stick the tissue to each canvas. All of the stamps used on this project are by Paper Artsy - I have had this project in my head for about three months and finally got around to playing with the stamps - they are from the Clocks and the Ding & Dong collections...which give a really cool Steampunky look to any artwork.




Once the ickle canvases were made, I set about making a big collage for the base...using one sheet of tissue and stamping randomly onto it. Before I stuck it to the base, I used some brown and teal coloured paints just to add some colour into the background...using Cut & Dry to drag the paint across the base canvas board. Once these were dry, I painted the base with beeswax and then placed the tissue on it...the painted more beeswax over the top...the tissue was from a "handy pack" and was near enough the right size...normally I would do bits and strips of tissue but thought I would go for a change and have a single sheet.




The mini canvases were then spritzed with Jazz Blue Glimmer Mists just to add in a little colour...and I swiped a brown and a teal StaZon around the edges too. The clock on the hanger and on the board itself are made from Ten Seconds Studio's metal, stamped and then puffed out to make them a little curvy...then scootched around the edges to neaten them up. Finally, I added loads of clock ephemera and some Idea-ology pieces...check out the large glass thingy in the middle...it is one of those opticians eye piece lens jobbies...it has been in my collection for yonks and I have never wanted to use it...saving it for a special piece...so I am chuffed I used it eventually LOL




Thanks for looking...have a great week...I am off out today...tis a special birthday party :O)) and I am all set and ready with pressies, card and cake...just hoping the weather behaves so I don't have to drive in the rain!

Hels x

Blue Today...Blue Tomorrow

...Aw, I just love those ickle mini canvases..this one is an ATC size and I coated it with Terra...yes, I am mad on Terra still LOL I stamped into the Terra and then once it was dry, I painted it with Kaisercolour paints...and then emphasised the bumps with gold Precious Metal paint.



The little birdy fella was stamped onto painted cardstock...getting out of my comfort zone on the Artsy Crafts weekend really worked...I love painting cardstock now :O)) I then added a sentiment onto the same card and popped this onto the canvas using silicone glue. I added a few little beads to jazz it up and to then even the tone I stamped a Paper Artsy clock in black StaZon.




Thanks for looking...I am home today from my stay at Andrea's so will be more chatty again tomorrow...now, is that a good thing or a bad thing I wonder? Don't answer that LOL

Hels x

Sunday Stamper - Week 39 - Lily The Pink + Blog Candy Winner!!

Morning Stampers,

First of all, thank you to everyone who joined in with the Sunday Stamper last week - it was great to see so many peeps visit my Blog. Without further ado, I can announce the winner of the Blog Candy that was on offer last week is.......


*drumroll please*


Wacky Jacky


Well done Jacky, I will be in touch hun and your Candy will be on the way to you this week.

Secondly, I apologise that I haven't been able to be here since Tuesday.....but.....I have had a really bad 'Flu bug which has completely wiped me out :O(( (1,2,3.....awwwww!!)

I have done no crafting at all, spent most days in my bed and been thoroughly wretched! However, thankfully the worst is over now and I am hoping to be able to make a little something for this weeks theme later today.

The theme this week is Pink - simply make something that has pink on it and incorporates stamping, link a post on here and then I can come and see what you have made. **here is wot I made!!**




I will be back later to post my entry - am thinking something canvassy as I am still really enjoying altering canvases at the moment.

Anyway, have a good day everyone, congrats to Jacky and have fun :O))

Hugs Hels x

Later...........

Hi Peeps

Teensy Weensy Canvas




I have had a really fun time getting covered in paint and I made this canvas for my entry to this weeks' theme.....using Adirondack Dabbers in Pink Sherbert and Raspberry, I painted the whole canvas, painted a teensy weensy canvas and some Stampbord shapes. I used some old dressmaking patterns and stamped onto them using Timber Brown StaZon ink. I cut them out and pasted them directly onto the canvas surfaces using watered down PVA as a medium. The Stampbord was stamped and scratched them attached to the canvas using Glossy Accents.


Stampbord Piece



The stamps are mainly from the Tim Holtz Collection by Stampers Anon and the dotty background is by The Artistic Stamper.

Thanks for looking!

Hels xx