Moth Fab Cards

I decided to change tact with my Stampotique characters and move from tags to cards, and from Artbars and pan pastels to distress inks.  I masked off a strip on the card, coloured it with 2 shades of green distress ink, spritzed a Hampton Art letters stamp and stamped it into the distress ink. The water on the stamp lifted the distress ink off the card. 

The pieces of green striped paper are hiding little accidents!!!  The images were stamped on to a separate piece of card in versa mark and heat embossed with black embossing powder.  I coloured the images with perfect pearls.  You can't really see on the photo but they really do shimmer.

I haven't added a sentiment yet as I don't know what I'm going to use them for.

More Tags .... sorry!!!!

I do apologise as I know you are all probably bored of my kraft card, pan pastels and Artbars but unfortunately (for you), I'm getting sooo much enjoyment out of making them, that I've made some more and these Stampotique stamps lend themselves so well too.

These were created on black card using pan pastels, white (100.5), neutral grey tint (820.8) bright yellow green (680.5) and magenta (430.5). The background, fence and words were stamped with picket fence distress stain using Stampotique stamps moth fab, winter, goddess, even silence speaks, hanging hearts and picket fence.  The character images were coloured with various pens and pan pastels.

All the tags were run through the distrezz-it-all tool to give them distressed and rugged edges.

New Home Card

Well not your traditional new home card, but I thought Deb would prefer this rather than something house related!!  Good luck with the move Deb and I hope you've settled in okay and you'll be very happy in your new home.

Yes, you've guessed it, kraft card, pan pastels, Artbars and Dina Wakley!!!

A Couple More Tags

Another couple of tags using kraft card, pan pastels and Artbars together with Dina Wakley images.

Simon Says ......

Another simple but effective piece.  I stamped the Dina background image in perfect medium and coloured with violet shade (470.3) pan pastel, then stamped the Dina lonely girl image in black stazon.


Simon says stamp and show's theme this week is - Hey Girl and Simon says stamp challenge's theme this week is - Anything goes

Kraft Card & Tag

I'm loving this kraft card with pan pastels and artbars, great combination.  Above is a card I made to send to Sue for her very kind gift.  

If you missed it, check back here.

I also made her a tag using some Stampotique characters and my new set of trees by Lavinia from the Doncaster show.  Again I used pan pastels and artbars.

Magical and Mystical

Ermmmm.....not entirely sure I've totally hit the spot with this theme.  For those of you that know me, you'll know I don't have any fairies, castles and mystical types of stamps in my collection, so I've done the best I could with what I've got!!! 

This week the PanPastels UK team are asking for 'magical and mystical'.

I stamped the CI-137 image, a flourish and the word dream in black stazon.  I coloured the background with a combination of violet tint (470.8) and turquoise tint (580.8) pan pastels.  I coloured the main image with magenta (430.5) and the flowers with violet shade (470.3) and phthalo blue (560.5) pan pastels.  The yellow flowers and the lilac swirl down the left I coloured with Artbars.  I used the pastel Artbars to outline some of the flourishes and over write the word, dream.  To try and make it more magical, I added turquoise and purple Stickles to the flower inners, the dots around the dream and the wings.  I added wool fibres to finish.

Then I decided to see what I could do using Titus from Stampotique.    So I made this ATC incorporating the mushroom stamp from Lavinia and the swirl stamp also from Stampotique.  I used magenta (430.5) and bright yellow green shade (680.3) pan pastels on the background and purple and lime green Stickles for the sparkle of magic - lol!!!!

Stampotique Sentiments

Remember my mate Sue who sent me the sentiments stamp, well here it is and I'm now able to join in with the Stampotique Sentiments challenge.  I kept it simple as you can see, as I wanted the sentiment to be seen and not hidden in the background.

I also made a simple tag along the same lines.

Artful Times - Challenge 9

This weeks Artful Times challenge theme is Europe on a tag as chosen by Neet.  As you can see, I decided to go to France.  The blue and red on the main tag are pan pastels.   The white strip was masked off.  I then collaged various French themed images and words directly onto the tag.  The mini tag was stamped, cut out and inked with faded jeans and festive berries distress ink and 3d foamed onto the main tag. Ribbons and fibres were used to finish both the tags.


Hop over to the Artful Times blog to see where Neet and Von went.

Tick Tock

Just a simple atc from me this week for the 'Time' challenge over at Out of a Hat Creations.  The image is from the Aunts Art Journey plate and stamped in black stazon over the distress stains background of bundled sage and broken china.  The  crackle stamp is from the Art Journey Numbers plate and stamped in shaded lilac distress ink from the spring collection.  The atc is edged in faded jeans distress ink.

More Stampotique

Look what came in the post from Happy Daze, more Stampotique to add to my growing collection.  So I just had to have a play with them!!

Background, pan pastels and artbars. Punched the MS picket fence into T!m's retro papers.  Stampotique characters coloured with Adirondack and OHP pens.  Hanging hearts stamped in the background with black stazon.  Stamped the quote, cut it up and 3'd it.  Added fibres to finish.

Background was created using pan pastels and a diamond stencil.  I stamped the Lavinia mushrooms in black stazon using a masking technique.  The scribbles are Dina's boy star stamp and the swirls are from my new stamps above along with Titus.  I stamped Head onto acetate and coloured him in with OHP pens.  I re-stamped Titus on a separate piece of card, coloured and cut his body out and stuck it over the stamped image.  I outlined all the background images with a white pen.  I edged the tag with faded jeans and broken china distress inks and finally added the fibres.

A couple of Tags

The background was created with pan pastel, bright yellow green extra dark (680.1) and Artbars (green earth A49, black A67 and white A72).  The 'goddess' word and hanging hearts Stampotique images were stamped in black stazon and outlined in white pen.  I stamped moth fab onto a separate piece of card and coloured her with Adirondack and OHP pens, cut her out and 3d mounted her onto the tag.  Finished off with my new Basic Grey fibres picked up at the Doncaster show.

More or less the same again except this background was created with juniper, cool peri and cloudy blue acrylic dabbers.  Dina's boy star and Stampotique 'diva' and hanging hearts were stamped over the background in black stazon, the word 'diva' was over stamped in picket fence distress stain.  This time moth fab was coloured with pan pastels, cut out and stuck flush to the tag.  


Simon says Stamp and Show have an anything goes this week, so I'm putting my tags up for this challenge!!!

Look what I got

Look what Sue kindly sent me today. I was explaining how I couldn't join in with the Stampotique challenge as it is sentiments and I don't have any, but it turns out Sue had 2 of the same one.  So she very generously offered to send me one, and here it is, along with a stunning tag, all Stampotique of course!! 

Thank you sooooo much Sue, it really is appreciated - xxxx

Cheery up Tags

My mate Neet had to go into hospital on Monday for a procedure which she wasn't looking forward to, but one that was necessary!!  This also involved a nights stay in the hospital just for observation purposes.  So to cheer her up for when she arrived home I made her a couple of tags.  Her favourite colour combo is lime green and purple and she loves anything to do with Paris and time.

I also added a sentiment to a stitched card which I previously posted here for the Art Journey challenge and sent her that too.

Sun, sea and sand

This week over at the PanPastel UK challenge they are asking for a brown (sand), a yellow (sun) and a blue (sea) and preferably a beach scene.  So here is my paper studios beach scene of a young girl looking out into the sea with her brown hair losely hanging down her back with a lovely sunset in the distance!!

Two's and Three's

Out of a Hat Creations are wanting to see twinchies this week (blimey, I'd forgotten how small these are!!) and LIM are asking for 3 of a kind.  I have 3 twinches and on each twinchie the background is created with 3 colours of acrylic paint dabber, juniper, cloudy blue and cool peri.  The images are Dina and stamped in jet black stazon.  The 'diva' is one of my new Stampotique 'word' stamps, again stamped in black stazon.  Each twinchie is edged in black stazon and has been mounted onto a folded piece of kraft card which I picked up yesterday at the Doncaster show.  No sentiment yet as I haven't decided what to use it for.

Doncaster Race Course & Stampotique

Went to the craft show at Doncaster Race Course today which this year was organised by Steph Weightman of QVC (previously of Create & Craft).  This is what I picked up at the show.  There were a few bargains.  The kraft card was 2 for £12 so Maz and I split a set.  The picket fence punch was £4. Both sets of basic grey fibres, the pens, photo anchors & brads, metal arrow and words were £5 for the lot.  The Lavinia tree stamp was half price at £4.40.  The stencil was £2.50.  I don't care much for clear stamps but I fell in love with the Paris set at the top. 

And when I got home these little lovelies were waiting for me which I'd ordered from Craft Emporium.

Grunge Tree and Newt

Another Dina meets Newt with Lunch Box creation.  This time I used perfect medium on the grunge tree with black (800.5) pan pastels and over stamped them with Eco-friendly white acrylic.


I'm entering this into this months Stampalot challenge which is 'what's your crafty passion'.  At the moment my passion is pan pastels over stamped in white acrylic, Dina and Stampotique stamps and layered backgrounds.

Stampotique meets Dina

Again using part of one the backgrounds created previously with acrylic dabbers, I stamped the Dina 'Earnest' stamp randomly over the background in black soot distress ink.  I stamped the 'Grunge Growth' in perfect medium and coloured it with phthalo blue (560.5) pan pastel, then I over stamped it with white eco-friendly acrylic paint.  I stamped my new Stampotique 'Newt with Lunch Box' character onto a separate piece of card.  Coloured her with pan pastels, gave her a spray of fixative, cut her out and 3d foamed her onto the background piece.

Chocolate & Vanilla

Over at PanPastel UK they have a great theme this week 'ice cream colours'.  They are asking that you state the flavours for the colours you've used, but mine is pretty simple ~ vanilla and chocolate.  I love 'white' vanilla as opposed to 'cream/yellow' coloured vanilla!!!  The background is a piece that I used from yesterdays post.  The flower shapes are from T!m's tattered florals die cuts, cut from foam and stamped in white eco-friendly paint.  The images are Dina Wakley and T!m Holtz.

Colours representing the flavours:

Chocolate - Espresso acrylic dabber paint

Vanilla - White eco-friendly paint

Layers and Layers

Over at Simon Says Stamp and Show this week their challenge is 'layered'.  You are asked to take this how you like, so I'm going with 4 layers of acrylic and a couple of layers of stamping!!!  The first acrylic dabber colour I used was mushroom, the second hazelnut and the third espresso.  I stamped the flowers from the tattered floral die in Eco-friendly white acrylic.  Once dry, I stamped in black stazon, a variety of Dina Wakley stamps and TH background stamps from the mixed media plate.  I over stamped the boys star (middle left) with white acrylic.  Finally I stamped the main image, silhouette script by Dina Wakley again in black stazon.  So as you can see, lots of layers.

Playing with Acrylic Dabbers

Been as though Ranger had been so very kind to send me replacements for all of my dried up acrylic dabbers, I thought it only right to get them out today and use them!!  I cracked open the purple twilight, red pepper and sail boat blue.  I brayered gesso over the top to mute the colours.

This is a combination of sunset orange, sunshine yellow with a touch of red pepper.  Again I muted it with gesso.

And lastly, espresso, mushroom and hazelnut.  I used a credit card to spread these colours and this time didn't use any gesso.

I'll be back later to show you what I did with them.

Travelling Postcard

Over at Out of a hat creations this week they are asking for a travel postcard.  I couldn't decide where I wanted to travel to, but anywhere is better than this wet and humid UK weather we are experiencing at the moment.  So I went for a collage of places.  I stamped the main image in perfect medium and coloured it with burnt sienna shade (740.3) pan pastel.  I used an eraser to take out some of the colour.


For the background I used the Crafter's Workshop numbers collage stencil with red iron oxide (380.5), yellow ochre (270.5) and orange shade (280.3) pan pastels. I stamped the Kaisercraft timeless, postcards stamp in black stazon.


Finally I 3d foam mounted the collaged panel onto the background.

A Little Haul

I decided to treat myself to a few more Dina Wakley stamps and also picked up the Newt with Lunchbox Stampotique stamp.  The May/June edition of Somerset Studio mag and T!m's Chitchat stickers from Pickleberry Papercrafts as she is having a 30% off sale.  You'll have to be quick though, it ends soon and there's not much left!!!!

More Stitches

More stitches over at Art Journey.  I coloured the base of the card with permanent green (640.5) pan pastel.  I cut a piece of muslin and stamped the Art Journey image from the Friends 2 plate in timber brown stazon.  I frayed the edges and coloured them with burnt sienna shade (740.3) pan pastel.  I sewed a zig-zag stitch with the sewing machine to attach the strip of hessian and the tulle fabric.  I also sewed a row top right to hold the fabric in place on the card.  I cut the tulle and used the heat gun to singe it but couldn't do it as much as I wanted to as I didn't want to set the card on fire!!!  I haven't added a sentiment yet, as I don't know what I'm going to use it for.

Artful Times - Challenge 8

I chose a car as my mode of transport for this weeks Artful Times challenge.  I covered a piece of corrugated cardboard approx 8" x 6" in T!m's retro grunge stack paper and cut a niche out of the left hand side.  I put a piece of a map in the niche and behind the window of the car.  The car is a T!m stamp too.  I cut the Journey from T!m's movers and shapers die.  Added a few embellishments and idea-o-logy corners.


Pop over to the Artful Times challenge blog to see what mode of transport Neet and Von chose, leave us a comment and feel free to join in with us.

A T!mmy Tag

Over at Simon Say Stamp Challenge this week their theme is simply a tag or an atc, but when you read a little further down the page all the DT have used T!mmy products, so they would really like to see these on our tags or atcs.  

So as you can see, I decided on an all T!m tag.  The base is coloured with scattered straw, rusty hinge and wild honey distress stain.  I stamped the script from the papillon plate with black archival ink and then over stamped it in picket fence distress stain.  I stamped the horizontal row of butterflies in picket fence distress stain three times on the tag.  I stamped the lines stamp from the mixed media plate again in black archival.  I edged the tag with walnut stain distress ink.  

I die cut the mini butterflies from text / music paper and coloured them with wild honey and rusty hinge distress ink.  I put gems down the centre of the bodies.  I stained a piece of fabric with wild honey and scattered straw distress stain and stamped it with the same line stamp as above.  I puckered it up and added some brads which I hit with the T!mmy hammer.  I took the wish ticket and inked it with walnut stain distress inks and mounted it in a memo pin.  

I coloured the ribbon with walnut stain and rusty hinge stains, added a butterfly reinforcer and the destiny tag on a mini safety pin.

And in-between the rain I managed to go outside and get a half decent photo!!!!

Distress Summertime Atc's

These are the other two Atc's I've made for the PaperPlay swap.  I used Hansa Yellow Extra Dark (220.1) pan pastel with the Crafter's Workshop mini cubist stencil.  I added some masking tape and stamped the butterflies from the TH papillon plate in Perfect Medium.  I swooshed over them with the same colour pan pastel.  Stamped some text and dots in black stazon and added the pastel green pearls to the butterfly bodies.

I used violet shade (470.3) pan pastel with the Crafter's Workshop mini branches stencil to create the background.  I stamped the Magenta floral image in black stazon onto a separate piece of white card and coloured it with pan pastels, cut it out and mounted it onto the background.  The word 'passion' is a rub on and I added 3 lilac pearls.

Sewing Circles!!!

Over at Art Journey challenge blog, Anneke has chosen this months theme of 'stitches'.  Now I have to say that this piece was very, very inspired by the DT tag that Sija made.  I just loved the idea of making messy grungy circle shapes with my sewing machine, (I say circles very loosely!!) and what more fitting stamps to put it with than the Grunge set.  I did the stitches in black and decided to keep with the black and white theme by stamping in black soot distress ink.  I mounted the finished piece onto black card.

Distressed Summertime

Out of a hat creations are asking for summertime this week and I have just set this months PaperPlay forum atc swap with the theme of distressed summer / nature.  So this is one of my atc's for the swap.  I glued some pieces of text and stuck some pieces of masking tape on the white card.  I coloured the background with violet shade (470.3) and turquoise shade (580.3) pan pastels using the Crafter's Workshop mini harlequin stencil.  I stamped the images in black stazon and added a pearl gem to the centre of the flowers.