Row of Houses

I have recently joined a fab yahoo group and one of the many swaps taking place is called 'row of houses'. The idea is to make 5 houses, they have to be within specific measurements and contain a face.  Top left has a piece of corrugated lining the roof, top middle is a piece of scrim housing a stamped image, top right has a corrugated roof.  Bottom left has a canopy and bottom right has a paperclip for the chimney!!!!

18th Card

This card was a happy accident as I wasn't planning on making it yet as it isn't until the 20th of October and I had no idea of what to make.  But over on KCUK group this months challenge is to use part of a stamp, cut it out and mount it onto something else.  I used the jeans from the PBS 'dreamer' plate, of course the colour is faded jeans distress ink, although on the photo they do look extremely bright, but they aren't!!!  Then I cut a nesties shape from a piece of red script paper (again this looks pink) and a larger one from a piece of green and gold card.  I like to use this as it sands back really, really well.  I run it through the big shot using the happy birthday embossing folder and distressed it with a sanding block.  So this was now shaping up to look like a male card, due to the image and the colours. I folded a piece of A4 card in half but it needed a little something else, so I cut a piece of the navy blue to matt but created a border down one edge with the EK Success bubbles border punch for a bit of variety. I cut the numbers from the Red Tag Sale alphabet cuttlebug dies and the letters from the Hippy Chick set and glued them on.

So thanks to Cath for the challenge and for the inspiration to make the card.

A Couple of Cards

I used a piece of glossy paper from a magazine for the top one and a piece of text paper from a paperback book for the bottom one.  I coloured the papers with various colours of distressed inks and dried them with the heat tool.  I stamped the images using versamark ink and clear heat embossed over the top.  Using walnut stain distressed ink, I brayered over both pages and where clear embossed wiped away the ink.  Tore the edges, mounted, added ribbons and skeleton leaves to the top one and stamped the edges with sand eco friendly paint.  I haven't added any sentiments yet as I don't know what I am going to use them for but I was in need of a bit of a play having spent the day researching and typing up the first draft of my Equality & Diversity Assignment!!!!!

A couple of tags

Have just been playing and made a couple of tags

Postcard/Mail Art - Lotstodo Challenge

Back to my favourite stamps of the moment for this challenge piece. I chose a postcard, covered it in various bright colours of distressed and Adirondack inks. I used black soot distressed ink to stamp the triangle eye images, covered them in clear embossing powder and heat embossed. The background and words were stamped in black stazon. I ran round the edges with a paper distressing tool and inked with black soot.

Wednesday Stamper - Orange

I'm going for a hat trick this week, my last 2 weeks pieces have hit the sampler on Wednesday Stampers challenge blog. Their theme this week is 'orange'.

I swiped my white piece of material with pumpkin stazon ink and frayed the edges. I printed the image onto ink jet transparency film and lightly melted the edges with a candle flame. Using my 'new toy', I stitched the image onto the fabric, again I just stuck to a simple stitch, added the flower and the ribbon.



I then realised, in order for it to qualify for Wednesday Stamper, a stamped image has to be present, so I got out my new ArtJourney stamps and used the word 'precious' along the bottom. I stamped it in spiced marmalade distressed ink.

Black, White and Grey Matter

Got some new stamps from ArtJourney yesterday but wasn't up to playing with them. I've simply stamped using black stazon, black soot distressed and lake mist Adirondak inks. The background cardstock was a nice vibrant white. I've used a paper distresser to distress the edges and inked with black soot.

I also want to enter the first 4x4 into this week Crazy Amigos challenge as the theme is numbers.

It's Party Time

The theme on this weeks Wednesday Stamper is 'party'. For my 4x4 I thought I'd use these 2 groovy chicks as they look like they are dancing the night away. Balloons and streamers are stamped in black stazon and painted with water colour paints. The words are stamped in black stazon too. Images are from Lisa's Altered Art and the hats are made from music papers.

TMTA - Travel

This weeks theme on Think Monday Think Atc is Travel. Here is mine. The background is weathered wood, faded jeans and walnut stain distressed inks. Journey and the bike were stamped with timber brown stazon, then masked off. The crackle was inked in walnut stain and spritzed with water before stamping.

Lotstodo Challenge - Stamped Collage

This weeks Lotstodo Challenge is stamped collage. I created the background using distressed and Adirondack inks. I stamped my Mona image, masked it off and built all the other images up around it. The P for Paris has been covered in diamond glaze for extra dimension and one of the post marks has been re-stamped, cut out and inked in different colours to make it stand out. I distressed the tags edges with a paper distresser and inked them with black soot. I finally added some fibres to finish.

Mail Art - Envelope

Been having a play with an envelope today. Background was painted in Juniper acrylic dabber, various images stamped with varying shades of green. Middle butterfly stamped, cut out and glued onto the flap.

That's the Ticket - Tag Tuesday

I don't think I've entered on this challenge site before, Tag Tuesday, but first time for everything I guess. I used my big n juicy pad to create the background, braying the ink in different directions. Stamped my main image, the word giggle and the TH scratches stamp. Outlined the words in black pen. Stamped the tickets using another TH stamp onto white card, cut a couple out and stuck them on. Distressed the edges of the tag using a paper distresser and distressed walnut ink. Added fibres to finish.

Think Monday Think ATC

The theme on this weeks Think Monday Think ATC is 'green', so how could I pass this up. All you have to do is use the colour green. I have used lots of shades of green including my silkies which have given it a shimmer, not sure if you can see it or not in the photo though.

Perhaps you can see the shimmer better on this one

Brown, Cream & Gold

I was blog hopping last night and Cath had made some lovely atc's using the above colours. This inspired me to have a play and here's what I came up with.

Friendship - UK Stampers Swap & Lotstodo Challenge

I am hosting an ATC swap on the UKStampers forum with the theme of 'friends/friendship' and these fit in great with this weeks Lotstodo challenge. The blue and green backgrounds have been created with 3 colours of distressed inks, spritzed with water and blasted with the heat gun. The one on the right has been created with alcohol inks from the light range. The image and quote stamps are from my holiday stash. The edges of the blue one have been roughed up with the paper distresser and walnut stain ink added and the alcohol inks one has been framed with a black marker pen

Another Tag

This is the last of the tags I made, but I had to wait for the diamond glaze to dry before I could carry on with the background!!!

I made these tags with yes, you guessed it, T!m's alteration dies. I can't stop playing with them!!!

Flower Faces

These tags were made using the floral set of alteration dies and the PaperArtsy grunge flower die (the leaf). I got the idea to put the faces in the middle from a piece that Alison (craftytrog) made for the Lotstodo Challenge.



The flowers were cut from various materials including sand paper (thanks Deb), fabric, cork and thick card. The leaves were cut from T!m's retro grunge pad.

All at Sea

Background paper is from T!m's new range, and of course I had to have the green set, ermmm I think it goes by 'retro grunge' . I used the 'on the edge' scallop die for the top and bottom. The cogs were cut from sand paper as suggested by Deb. I covered them in walnut stain and black soot distressed inks, dried them with a heat tool and they bubbled!!!! I put some rock candy stickles on them too and it was like paint stripper, it stripped the colour off on the large one, so I was more careful with the smaller two. Again I heat dried them and they went really limp!!!! The image is from Lisa's Altered Art. The font used for the words is 'OgdredWeary' and it was printed onto safmat. I finished off by threading a piece of ribbon through the holes in the top made by the scallop die.

PaperArtsy Hot Picks Stamp Set

Been having a play with my new set of PaperArtsy stamps. The background is alcohol inks on matt card!!! The flower, and the stem on the right are heat embossed with clear embossing powder after being stamped with black soot distressed ink. The flower is attached with 2 spinners and a brad. The outsides have been torn using a paper distresser and edged in black soot. I added gems to the middle of the bodies.