Embossing Mad

I've made a Christmassy tag to enter in both the Compendium of Curiosities Challenge No 23 and Simon Say Stamp and Show your Distress Inks, this week.


Actually I've gone embossing mad! The CCC this week is Double Distress, so you will need to turn to page 40 of the book to get the details about how to do this. However, once I started I couldn't stop, so as well as the embossed reindeer, I've also embossed my tag twice.

The top part of my tag has been inked with faded jeans, and then stamped with a small splattery stamp in gold to try and give a starry sky effect. The tag has then been embossed with the tree Alteration folder, and a Tim Holtz Merry Christmas stamp has been used for the sentiment, embossed in gold. The trees have been inked in pine needles DI. The snow is really sparkly in real life , and is made from Deko Ice which is the most amazing glitter.

The reindeer is diecut and embossed then inked with antique linen and Vintage Photo DI's, before being given a little red silk thread bow for decoration.

Fly Away

This weeks Sunday Stamper theme is butterflies, so here is a really simple tag. I have used antique linen and bundled sage DI's plus wheatfields Glimmer Mist for my background. and then stamped all over with little butterflies and the word fly.

The jar is stamped onto acetate and placed over the butterflies, I then stamped the lid on to some bronze metal, and left it open so my butterflies can escape. The butterflies are quite shimmery in real life, again using Glimmer Mist, but it will not show up in a photo

Twenty Five

Begining to feel that I really need to start thinking about all things seasonal, I thought I'd make a vintage Santa style tag for this weeks Something Completely Different challenge, which is numbers.

I used one of my favorite Santa stamps. and then stamped some metal with the ticket stamp, to make my number embelishment. The background is peeled paint DI and the Fabulous Flourishes stamp.

Autumnal Splatter

Here is my entry for this weeks fabulous Compendium of Curiosities Challenge (Number 22).

I've never used this technique before, and as suggested by Linda used a straw to create my splatter, as I did not have any compressed air! Not the sort of thing I have just hanging around really!!

The actual technique can be found on page 52 of the C of C's, and here is my take on it. I have to say it was both fun and frustrating in equal measure. Some splatters looked great, but then my stamping went wonky, and some splatters just didn't look good. Anyhow, I am continuing with the autumnal theme this week mostly because these are the ink colours I've got.

I've used Wendy Vecchi stamps, wild honey and rusty hinge DI's for my background and a little bit of bronze German scrap to finish my tag.

The copper ink looks nice in real life, but I can't get it to show in any photo's. This is definitely a technique which I'll be using again.

Miles to Go

Here is my entry for this weeks Sunday Stamper Challenge which is Santa Claus. Finally I have made a Christmas card. I don't often make cards, and find it really hard to get going for some reason. I just sit and look at my Christmassy stamps and wonder what to do with them. I have used an Artistic Outpost stamp, Snowy Woods that I really like, with a real vintage look.

I have decided less is more, so have used just coffee Archival Ink, and faded jeans and vintage photo D I's and kept the card embellishment free.

Perfect Distress (CCC21)

I really love using Perfect Pearls and use this technique quite a lot (see page 38 of the C of C's), but I've had to have quite a few attempts before getting anything I felt remotely happy with. Was it because I thought I should do something Christmassy? Well, if it was, my Christmas mojo has definitely done a runner, so I decided to go with autumnal colours. I have a beautiful maple tree in my back garden and yesterday was gloriously sunny, so it just seemed to glow, and I've tried to use those lovely hues on my tag. I should of taken a photo because it is so lovely, but today is so stormy and wet that I can hardly open the door to my garden without getting blown over.

Sorry about the not very good photo, those pearls do create a bit of glare! I used antique linen and wild honey to ink my tag, that lovely flourish stamp and then some aged mahogany, plus heirloom gold PP's.

I think I could have left the ink to bleed for a little bit longer, but there is definitely a fine line between good and a bit blobby.

Just to finish I thought I 'd post a picture of Schroedinger, who is very fed up today because its too horrible for him to go out. He's sitting on the study/craft room windowsill looking very grumpy.

Covered in Glitter!

This snowy canvas is my entry for this weeks Sunday Stamper Challenge, and I'm hoping that little bird houses count so that I can enter this in the Something Completely Different Houses Challenge as well .

I have just used gesso and aqua paint dabber on my canvas. The tree is by Collections Elements, painted in distress crackle paint, as is the fence which is one of those fab new Tim Holtz dies.

The background is stamped with pearl snowflakes and fir trees in tumbled glass and broken china distress inks. I made some clear snowflakes using some Ideology packaging and then out came the glitter. I used Deko-Ice which has lovely big clear crystals sprinkled on the snowflakes, but I did manage to get it all over the place, my desk is now more sparkly than the Strictly Come Dancing set. The little bird house is covered in some frosty coloured paper, and also given the glitter treatment, and hangs from the tree on a little silver wire with a few little crystals on it.

Haute Couture: Gingersnap Creations 77

Here is my entry for Gingersnaps Creations Challenge No. 77 Haute Couture. No stamps of fasionable women, so this was a bit of a challenge. I found some Artchix images that I had had lurking about for ages, that gave me a bit of inspiration. The styles and 50's/60's look made me think about my Grandma's dressing table for some bizarre reason, and then I remembered being fascinated by little boxes of perfume and soap in pale lilac, pink and grey packaging. This is a shift away from colours I would normally use, but I really quite like them.
I used distress inks in pumice stone, milled lavender and dusty concorde, the stamps are Wendy Vecchi for the sewing motifs and the flourishes are Tim Holtz stamps. The dress form is covered with some lovely paper from Artchix, and a few embelishments to finish off.

Grungie Snowflakes

Here is my entry for this weeks Compendium of Curiosities Challenge Number 20. I've had a break for a few weeks, but it was great to wake up this morning and feel like I wanted to make something.
The actual technique may be found on page 54 0f the Cof C's.

As you can see it's a really simple tag, but I did get to use my new snowflakes die. A bit of improvisation as I wanted a silvery look, but had no silver Alcohol Ink, Pearl paint dabber seemed to work quite well though. The tag is coloured with Tumbled Glass and Bundled Sage distress inks, and the snowflakes are stamped in Tumbled Glass and some have got Perfect Pearls on to try and get a frosty look.