Take a Stamp

I have seen in some Stampington magazines where a stamp is chosen and used in different ways, so with this is mind I set off having a play.  I decided to choose my new Art Journey 'Pear' stamp from the aptly named Pear plate!!.  As you can see I made an arch, an atc, a couple of tags and three cards.  This is a long post as I am going to explain each one below.  So either grab a coffee or carry on blog hopping!!!

The arch ~ stamped background using distress inks, adirondack dye inks and stazon in shades of purple.  I then gave them a light dusting of violet shade and ultramarine blue extra dark. I stamped the two pears onto tissue paper with timber brown stazon and cut them out.  I gave the arch a coat of golden matte medium, laid the first pear on and gave that a coat too and then laid the second one over the top and coated that too.

I used glossy card for both the background and the card.  The white card is stamped with olive stazon using the image from the TH papillon plate.  The pear is stamped in black stazon on to glossy card as the background was created using juniper, lake mist and willow alcohol inks.  Edged with forest moss distress stain and smudged in.  I used my one and only distress marker, picket fence to squiggle underneath the pear so it didn't look like it was floating, not sure if you can see it on the photo or not.

This is my least favourite one and the one I did last.  I covered the background with yellow and green Stewart Gill translucent paint.  I stuck on a few pieces of music script and added a bit more paint.  I inked clear ink through a piece of sequin waste and coloured it with burnt sienna extra dark pan pastel. I stamped the pear in versa mark but because it was dark by this time and the light wasn't good, I couldn't see where I had stamped to put the pan pastel and I was a bit heavy handed with it on the left hand side while I was sussing out the image!!!  I stamped the words in timber brown stazon and coloured it with some other Stewart Gill paints.

Atc ~ I stamped the pear in 3 shades of green using colorbox fluid chalk inks from the Autumn Pastel range.  I masked the image off and stamped the CI music background with saddle brown stazon.  I used orange extra dark pan pastel to colour the background.

I stamped the pear image on the plain white tag in bamboo leaves Memento ink, masked it off and stamped the twigs image (from the same plate) in various colours of distress inks and adirondack dye inks.  I spritzed it with water and stamped it onto the tag.  I took the scroll from the same pear plate and again used various colours and randomly stamped it on the tag corners.  I took a wet paintbrush to my art bars and coloured the background of the tag.  I used forest moss distress stain to edge the tag and added the fibres.

I stamped a script Paperartsy image in versa mark all over the tag.  I used ultramarine blue extra dark pan pastel to highlight the script.  I went over the whole tag with a combination of violet shade and turquoise shade pan pastel.  I stamped the pear images in cool peri and eggplant adirondack dye inks, cut them out, mounted them onto the tag with 3d foam and added fibres to finish.  I edged the tag in dusty concord distress stain.

And this is my favourite one, a card.  The three pears were stamped in olive, timber brown and saddle brown stazon.  They were masked off to create the effect.  I gave them a bit of shadow using my artbars.  I edged the card with one of the greens from the Colorbox fluid chalk autumn set as above.  I stamped the word 'friends' in timber brown stazon on a separate piece of card, edged it and stuck it on the card.  The whole thing was then attached to a white card.

Thank You Card

I made this little card as a thank you to Neet.  I used pan pastels as I have been trying to talk her into buying some for ages and I'm happy to report she now the proud owner of lots of colours!!!!!  I created the purply~lilac background by, are you ready for this, going outside, picking up a handful of red, white and pink blossom that had fallen of ours and our neighbours trees, placing them on a piece of card and then on my big shot plates.  I gave them a spritz of water, put the top plate on and ran them through the machine.  Once dried off I lightly tinted it with violet and magenta pan pastels.  I stamped the cow slip in black stazon and went over certain areas with a white pen.  I also wanted to incorporate the new spring limited edition of distress inks as they were fast becoming a favourite of hers too!!!  So the butterfly was inked in all 3 colours, spritzed with water and stamped to give a water coloured effect.  The word thanks was stamped in the peacock.  The actual card was coloured with turquoise pan pastel.  I didn't press on too hard as the card was hammered so in some places the white came through giving a lovely effect.


Apologies for the quality of the photo and the colours, but it was a real gloomy, dull day when it was taken.

Postcard Bingo!!!

Well I don't normally play bingo, but today I did and created this postcard to join in with the girls over at Out of a Hat Creations.  Hop over there to see all the different combinations you can have.  I went for the top one, left to right, lace, buttons, flower and image.


I am also entering my purple postcard in to this weeks Simon Says Stamp and Show challenge as their theme is anything goes.

Black & White Arch

I haven't joined in this challenge site for absolutely ages and at one time I was an avid visitor, times change I guess.  Anyway this week the girls over at The Gothic Arches Challenge blog are asking for black and white.  So with that in mind I randomly stamped a collage of images onto my arch in stazon, distress stain and distress ink, all shades of black of course and this how it turned out.


Why not hop over, see what they have created and may be join in ~ after all, I did.

More Scraplings

I wanted to join in with the Less Is More challenge this week as their theme is 'use 3 stamps, not 2, not 4, but 3'. 

And another.

Then I got on a roll and did 2 more.

This was quick, easy and great fun, thank you for the challenge.

Just Playing

I was having a little play yesterday with various mediums and I made these scraplings.  Now for those of you who don't know what scraplings are, check out the exp here.  I used pan pastels to colour the background of these top two and then I played with some of my new Art Journey stamps.  Background on the right is violet and magenta and on the left turquoise and violet.  The stamping on the left top is the new lilac and the quote, left and the numbers and play on the right are the older seedless grape seasonal limited edition distress inks.  I spritzed the right hand one with Biscotti Perfect Pearls.  Not sure if you can see the glimmer or not. 

The backgrounds for these two above were created using all the new spring edition distress inks.  All the images are from either my new Art Journey stamps or T!m's papillion plate.

And lastly for the backgrounds of these bottom two I used my Artbars.  I used about 6 or 8 different colours on the left one and just the two blocks of colours on the right.  Again all the images are from the same as the above.  The butterflies have been stamped in peacock DI and over stamped with picket fence distress stain.

Vintage Tag

Out of a Hat Creations theme this week is vintage lace.  I recently held a vintage tag swap on the PaperPlay forum and made this tag.  It didn't say how much or in my case less, you had to use so I hope this is okay as there is just a strip at the bottom covering the beaded trim.  The image was stamped onto tissue paper with timber brown stazon and given a coat of matte medium.  This then enabled me to use my artbars over the top to colour in the flowers.  A piece of purple lacy ribbon was attached to the top of the tag, pearls added and fibres.

Birthday Card

I made this birthday card for my football mad brother in law.  As you can see from the stickers, he supports Man United!!!   The whole of the card was coloured with permanent red pan pastel.  I stamped the image and the happy birthday in versa mark and once the pan pastel had 'set' added the appropriate stickers!!


This weeks Pan Pastel Uk challenge is sports, so this card fits in very nicely.

Artful Times - Challenge 4

Von chose this weeks Artful Times challenge theme of 'Birds'. This slightly threw me as I only have two birds, T!m's alteration caged bird die and the one on the urban tapestry stamp plate.  So as you can see, I decided to go with the die. The background was coloured with two shades of blue pan pastels and a violet. I then run the tag through the stylized flowers embossing folder. I lightly brushed over it with picket fence distress stain. The bird and the cage were coloured with distress stains. I threaded the dark ribbon through the holes and attached a caged bird charm. I glossy accented the bird. I coloured the strip of material with distress stain and attached it with a brad.

Come along and join us this week.

Stamps, Inks & Re-Inkers

Look what arrived today, my new stamp plates from Art Journey, my copy of Stampers Sampler in the new format and my spring set of distress inks and re-inkers at a bargain price from Oyster Stamps.

A Favourite Tag

This week Simon Says Stamp and Show are asking for a favourite stamp.  Well as I've only just got the Papillon Tim Holtz plate and the Dina Wakely Lonely Girl these are for the moment, my favourite stamps.  I really like the Tim Holtz plate as it's so versatile and combines well with almost anything.

I created the background by using 4 different shades of green pan pastels.  All the images are stamped in timber brown distress stain and the butterflies were over stamped with picket fence distress stain.   The tag was edged in walnut stain distress stain.  The ribbon started off as a piece of white material. I ripped a strip off and coloured it with crushed olive distress stain.

So not only my favourite stamps of the moment, but in my favourite colour scheme too.

Tag of Colours

The background for this tag was created using Dylusion inks and Dylusions acrylic paint, which unfortunately is no longer available.  The script is from the TH papillon plate and was stamped in fired brick distress ink and over stamped in picket fence distress stain. The main image is by Dina Wakely and was stamped in black stazon.  Colourful fibres were added to finish.


I am entering my tag into Simons says stamp and show as their theme this week is a Kaliedescope of colour and Pan Pastels Uk theme this week is anything goes.

Birthday Card

I finally got round to making a birthday card for my mum.  There was still plenty of time as it's not needed until a week tomorrow, but it feels good to have finally made something.  I stamped the main crafty individuals image with dusty concord distress stain over a patterned paper.  The flower was made from punching two different sized flowers from book pages and curling the petals.  The larger one is edged in dusty concord distress ink.  The outer edge of the white card was coloured with antique linen distress stain to tie in with the paper on the right and the paper flower.

Art Journey Zentangle

This months AJ challenge is to Zentangle; this basically means to doodle around your artwork.  It's not really my cup of tea and I get bored with it, so I chose an atc as it's a small area to work with, but I really wanted to join in as I've only just found them!!  I used images from the Words and Sweet Dreams 2008 plates.

Atc - out of the hat

Out of the hat creations theme for this week is the inspirational picture featured on their blog, or if you have one of your own you can use that.  I decided to go with the colours from their featured picture, using the oranges and the browns.  The orange is actually brighter IRL, but unfortunately due to the weather, it looks duller than it really is.


Hop over to their blog, check out the inspirational photo and see what springs to mind.