Very Inky Fingers!

This little flowery thingy, which is totally inspired by Wendy Vecchi's lovely art, is my entry for this weeks Compendium of Curiosities Challenge No. 30, Altered Metal with Paint, and the Sunday Stamper Challenge, which this week is Sentiments. Today was a day off from work, and my lovely postman has just brought me some Adirondack Colorwash, so I just had to have a play, and have used them for the background.

I've followed the instructions on page 48 of the Cof C's for my flower centers. The stamps are all Studio 490 which I haven't used for a while, and I don't know why because I love them! And now I have to try and make my hands slightly presentable as I'm at work tomorrow, and bright blue/green fingers are not a good look for Antenatal Clinic! Note to Self: wear gloves next time use Colorwash!!!

Weathered Hearts

Already on Challenge No. 29, and this week it's weathered wood grunge. I did have a bit of a problem with the wood bit of this challenge as I don't have any embossing folders that look remotely like wood! So I've weathered a few grungeboard hearts instead, using basically the same technique that can be found on page 50 of the Compendium of Curiosities.

My tag is inked with Tattered Rose and Aged Mahogany DI's and the flourishes are stamped in Aged Mahogany. The vintage cupid is from the Seasonal Tim Holtz paperstack, and I used some little bits of German scrap to finish off. The hearts are painted with Watermelon acrylic paint,, and after being sanded, inked with Vintage Photo and just lightly dabbed with some Inka Gold

Bits and Bobs

Here is my entry for this weeks Sunday Stamper, the theme of which is buttons. Now I obviously haven't dashed off this box in the last hour, but have been putting it together for the last week. It's the smallest size Configuration Box, which I have covered with Shabby Chic paper and used Tissue Tape to hold together (closely following Tim's excellent YouTube instructions).

I've used various bit and bobs to fill the spaces, luckily including some buttons in the second space up on the right. Now you might be thinking where's the stamping? and you have got to look hard, but the crumpled tissue under the frozen Charlotte is actually stamped with a Wendy Vecchi stamp. BTW that dolls head was one of a set ordered from Ebay, and arrived from California in 4 days in the middle of all the snow chaos last month (amazing when I still have an Amazon parcel ordered at the same time which is according to parcel tracking still in Kettering, actually I think it's totally lost!).

A Bit Corny

Here is my entry for this weeks Compendium of Curiosities Challenge (number 28). It's Colorful Layered Fragments this week which is a new technique for me, even though I've had some fragments lurking around in my stash for ages. I do not have any of those special pens that the book tells us to use, so have after trying various things found that cotton wool buds work best for me, though it means I have got a slightly blurred effect on my fragment.

My tag is inked with Wild Honey and Rusty Hinge D I's, embossed and then lightly inked with Aged Mahogany. For my fragment I have used a PaperArtsy stamp and used Lettuce, Sandal and Caramel Alcohol Inks. The barn is an Artistic Outpost Stamp and the sentiment is Wendy Vecchi. To finish off I used an image from my Lost and Found paperstack, and some bits and bobs of Ideology.

A Bit of a Bind

Today I decided I should get to grips with my Bind It All. It's been sitting on the shelf for months staring at me accusingly. So here is the notebook I have made. With hindsight I should have started with a six ring notebook, but anyway after puzzling over the instructions for ages I think the light has dawned.

My notebook covers are card covered with paper I inked with Broken China and Vintage Photo Distress inks. I then used a couple of my fave Tim Holtz stamps and some Ideology to finish.

I have learned that it is better to put the embellishments on the cover after binding is finished, luckily the bookplate was just out of the way when it came to squeezing up the binding. With hindsight this is blindingly obvious!! So Mr Bind It All, I'm not scared of you any more, (or not quite so much anyway).

Misty Masks

Here is my entry for this weeks Compendium of Curiosities Challenge Number 27, Distress Misting Masks. The technique can be found on page 60 of this fab volume. Over at Simon Says Stamp and Show this weeks challenge is Masking, so I can also enter my tag in this challenge as well.
My supply of masks is very limited so I made one from the caged bird die and cut it from a bit of acetae from the packaging.
I have inked over the mask with tumbled glass and broken china distress inks, stamped some flourishes in vintage photo, then sprayed with Perfect Pearls mist in turquoise, and my bird is cut from grungepaper covered in tissue tape. I have made the flowers from metal following the instructions on Lin Brown's fab blog Yours Artfully. They are really simple to make, and when coloured with alcohol inks can be made to go with any project. In fact I found making them a bit addictive and now have quite a few flowers in various shapes sizes and colours. They are bound to come in useful at some time.

Rusty Wings

I just got a bit carried away with having a fully functioning computer again after nearly two weeks and posted just the title. Silly me. Thank goodness I noticed. I have definitely had a bit of trouble finding any mojo at all over the past week. I'm putting it down to post Christmas tiredness, and an extremely hectic time at work (millions of babies being born would be a slight exageration, but it has felt like it at times)!
I'm really pleased because I'm the lucky person who has won December's Artistic Outpost Referral draw. Yippee, it's the first time I've won anything, so thank you Artistic Outpost for making such fab stamps. Anyway, enough rambling.

I have made a tag that I am entering in the Compendium of Curiosities Challenge No 26, The Sunday Stamper week 135 A Charmed Man, and the Artistic Stamper January Challenge, Things with Wings.

The tag is inked with vintage photo DI and stamped with some Studio 490 stamps. The wings are made according to instructions on page 45 of the CofC's,but I didn't have any vintage photo embossing powder so used walnut stain instead and inked with rusty hinge.

The man in question is part of a stamp that I've had for ages, its's an altered version of American Gothic and I've always found this man a strange but fascinating character. I believe that in real life he was a dentist, all I can say is thank goodness he doesn't have me as a patient because he looks really scary. The tag is finished off with some tissue tape, an adage label and I think the little propellor is from 7 Gypsies