Sunday Stamper - Week 298 - A Stitch in Time

Gooodly Morning Stampers and a very happy Sunday to you all!  Thanks for so many fabby entries to last weeks challenge, it is a pleasure to hop around to all your blogs to see your grand creations.  This week the theme is... STITCHES/SEWING.  The theme invites you to add any kind of stitching into your creation, be it faux with stamping or doodling... or actual real stitching either by hand or machine!  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 and then pop back here to leave me a comment along with a linky to the place you are showing your entry.  If you haven't got a blog, you can join in via Facebook - simply tag my name, or by emailing me a small res. photo of you creation.  The challenge will remain open until 21:00 Saturday 15th March 2014.

 This week I have been stealing time from the middle of the night!  Oh ho yesh, I have sussed out that time during the night is not only "free" it also appears to be when my Mojo is in full steam and I am at my most creative.  Mind you, it isn't hard to be creative when you have the right stashly goodies.  Of late, I have sadly neglected my Studio 490 stash, mainly because I haven't had time to play with it all.  So, during my nighttime playtimes, I have been dusting off the 490 stash and getting thoroughly covered in ink and paint.  This creation is a hanging piece I made, the base is chipboard that I covered with some new Kaisercraft Papers (Timeless collection, nom!) and then I got crackling... *see what I dids there? teehee*   Recently, the marvel that is Wendy Vecchi added a brand new embossing texture paste to her already great range. *click her name to be transported to her blog for amazing inspirations*  And if you saw last Sunday's Sunday Stamper you will have already seen this fabulous Crackled Texture Paste.   This time, instead of just slapping it onto the base "raw", I added a few drops of Geranium Archival Re-Inker to colour it.  Ohhhhlaaaalaaaa!  Check out those crackles!  I started by popping the Heart Stencil For Art onto the base, smidging on a thin layer of Black Embossing Paste and once dried (super fast as it was a thin layer) I replaced the Heart over the top and spread a nice thick layer of Crackled Paste over the top.  It was nice and dry and ready to use about an hour later... and whilst I loved the bright red, it was just a smidge too bright for how I wanted the piece to look.  To fix this, I grabbed some Cut & Dry Foam and blended Geranium and Watering Can Archival Inks over the top... voila, a grungier effect.

Now for the decorations.  The base looked fine but... a bit bare.  So after rummaging through my 490 stamps, I found the stitched scallop and stamped that around the edge of the base, then used Antique Linen and Gathered Twigs DI's to add a vintage look.  I stamped a few flourishes in Watering Can at the top of the heart (look closely, they are there, hiding under the flowers lol)  And then... ART PARTS!!!  Now, I love Art Parts more than most other things in my stash! They are sturdy, easily altered and they just add that perfect amount of dimension to any creation.  So, the leaves were painted with Forest Moss and Crushed Olive Distress Paints and then overstamped with a cool background using Fern Green Archival ink.  The Art Part word started out saying "wishes" but I didn't want the "es" so I chopped them off, slapped a layer of Rock Candy Cracklepaint onto the word and then once crackled, applied Black Soot DP over the top... subtle crackle on top of mega crackle. 
  

And now for the decorating bit!  It is no secret that I loves a nice flower bundle... in fact, the majority of the things I make have flowers on them.. and the Studio 490 stamps are just perfect for making said flower bundles.  I stamped all the flowers onto cream cardstock, cut them all out and then overstamped them with Geranium Archival and lots of different background stamps - again all Studio 490.  They were then inked with Antique Linen, Fired Brick and Gathered Twigs DI's.  I used the mini dotty butterfly and Jet Black Archival to stamp out onto Clearly For Art.  Now, Clearly For Art is one of the bestest things you can have in your crafty stash - it is a heatable modelling film that can be left clear, covered with papers, fabric, inks, die cut, stamped etc and once it is heated and moulded, it keeps its shape.  And if you hate your moulding? You can reheat it and it goes back to flat again!  Genius indeedily!  The addage of little pearls to the flowers and butterflies was my finishing touch, I didn't want to add any more embellies as I liked the look as it is.. and I know how mental I can go with the old embellies!

 I have had a great time this past week playing late at night... and this coming week I actually have a weekend off so... that means more time to play during the days too!  As ever, have a wonderful day... I hope you like the theme and get a chance to play along.  Thanks for looking... TTFN

Hels x

Sunday Stamper - Week 297 - All Things Bright & Beautiful

Gooodly Morning Stampers and a very happy Sunday to you all!  Thanks for so many fabby entries to last weeks challenge, it is a pleasure to hop around to all your blogs to see your grand creations.  This week the theme is... USE BRIGHT COLOURS.  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 and then pop back here to leave me a comment along with a linky to the place you are showing your entry.  If you haven't got a blog, you can join in via Facebook - simply tag my name, or by emailing me a small res. photo of you creation.  The challenge will remain open until 21:00 Saturday 9th March 2014.

My entry this week has been borne out of my love for all things Studio 490... starting with the brains behind Studio 490, the wonderfully talented Wendy Vecchi.  To see all of Wendy's art and amazing tips and design inspirations, CLICK HERE.  Now, it is no secret that I am Wendy's number one stalker of course, I mean fan (ahem) and have been avidly collecting all the products and stamps that she designs and brings to market.  This creation features tonnes of her stuff... and a whole lot of inspiration from her too.

A few days ago I came down with the snots - yes, I am still resembling Moomin Mamma - and when I get all stuffy and blocked up of nostrils, I can't sleeps.  So, early on Friday morning, like stoopid early 4am, I crept into the Room of Stash for a little nocturnal dabble with a new stashly goody that arrived in the Room of Stash in the past few weeks... and I hadn't had a chance to open the pot, let alone have a play!  And what is this stuff?  It is the brand new Crackled Texture Paste from Studio 490. **available from Art From The Heart HERE**  Now, I have been stalking staring watching... ok, all of those, I have been viewing Wendy's blog over recent weeks and seeing all her demo's and tutorials for the new paste, I thought "aha, Sheridan, you have some FREE crafting time... "  So I got crafting!

Firstly, I will just say this... I haven't thought up a single thing about this project apart from the layout.  The colours, stamps, stencils, inks, pastes etc are ALL Wendy.   I splodged a generous dollop of Crackled Texture Paste onto a piece of grey board that I had splatted some 490 Black Embossing Paste onto... and then edged over the top of the black with White Embossing Paste so the crackles then have white and black underneath them.  As Grim has been on nights, it meant that I could secretly whack the heating on which meant my radiator was nice and toasty... so I popped the greyboard onto it to speed up the cracklage... ooooh my! It was fascinating, I literally sat there and watched the crackles appear!  Once the piece was completely dry, I used Cut & Dry foam and Wendy's Signature Archivals for Ranger and blended Fern Green, Orange Blossom and Cornflower inks over the crackles... ooooh.... mega swoonage going on here!   
 

I wanted to add a real zing of colour so I went for Barn Door, Rusty Hinge and Wild Honey Distress Inks to colour the stamped flowers and butterflies and Forest Moss for the leaves.  You see the tiny flowers nestling under there?  That is the same flower are the one next to it, I just made the petals shorter when cutting it out. Stencilling was done using more Archivals, Watering Can and Jet Black and more Cut & Dry foam to blend... and then I set about assembling it all.  As you can see, there's a little birdy sitting there... isn't he cute!  Well, he has been roosting in my stash for over a year now.  When I went to CHA Winter 13, I followed Wendy around whilst she was demoing... oh yesh, such is my obsession. Well, she was demoing away and everyone else was getting a bit of her demo art from her... except me... so I cheekily asked if I could have the ickle birdy she had just coloured with Distress Paints... and *to shut me up/get rid of the irksome Brit/whatever* bless her, she said yes!  Hurrah!  I have been saving this ickle birdy for THAT long to use on something special.

Anyways... enough of my wafflings for one day!  I hope you have a great day and you get a chance to hop on over to Wendy's blog to see her gorgeous art... she is such a giving designer too and you will find tonnes of hints and tips there too.  *can you tell I loves her?*   Right, I shall away... thanks for looking... TTFN!

Hels x