Falling Leaves

It's very autumnal this morning here in Wiltshire, so what better to do than try out my new Autumn Blueprint stamps.  I have been meaning to use them all week as there are lots of lovely autumn themed challenges around at the moment. 

I've made a little wall hanging that fits the bill for Compendium of Curiosities 2 Challenge 24, over at Studio L3, which is to use the Alcohol Ink resist technique found on page 59 of Tim's book, Simon Says Stamp and Show Leaf-spiration, and The Artistic Stamper challenge for October which is The Natural World.

The canvas is 6''x4'' and painted with titian buff, terracotta and a eggy yellow acrylic paint all blendedto darkest at the edges. There are some little patches of Antique Bronze Crackle Paint and these and the edges are inked with Gathered Twigs DI. The leaf blueprints are then stamped very lightly in Gathered Twig on the canvas.   Next I coloured some card with Aged Mahogany DI and lightly stamped the leaf blueprints on this with copper paint.

The main leaf is made following the instructions on page 59 of the Compendium of Curiosities 2. 

Next I got busy with some Kraft Glassine and my Alcohol Inks and made lots of little leaves using the Autumn Gatherings strip die, and sprayed them with a little Heirloom Gold Perfect Pearls.  The moth is stamped using Rusty Hinge DI  on Stampboard.

To finish off I have used some slightly rusty wire to make a rustic looking hanger, and just added a few bits of Ideology.

Vintage Sparkle

I think the time of year has come that I can get my Christmas stamps out and not feel it's too soon.  Every year I think I will make all my cards, but somehow never get around to doing it, but at least I have now made one for this year, and because I have got a little stash of Tattered Pinecone roses that I made earlier this year I thought I would use some of them in making a shabby, vintage themed card.

Never one to need much excuse to get out my glitter, I was happy to see that the challenge this week over at Simon Says Stamp and Show is Love of Sparkle, so I have made a very sparkly vintage Noel cut from Grunge paper and combined this with some roses and foliage. The die cut Noel is coloured with Aged Mahogany Distress Ink before applying some multi medium and Martha Stewart White Gold glitter. The edges of the roses are also coloured with some Gathered Twigs and Aged Mahogany DI

Grungy Hearts

The theme over at Hel's Sunday Stamper this week is to use masks and/or stencils.  I always seem to get splodgy results with masks, so decided to use just a stencil, and a really basic one at that, the small hearts template from Crafters Workshop. 

I have used a 6'' x 12'' canvas, red, green and black PanPastels, tissue paper, some Kraft card that I have cut a mini tag out of, two Tim Holtz stamps, some Peeled Paint and Walnut Stain Distress Inks, black Stazon, and some modelling paste.

After covering the canvas with scrunched up tissue I used the stencil to make my three modelling paste hearts, never very good at icing cakes I didn't try to smooth the paste out too much, and left a slightly rough texture. 

Next the hard bit, letting the modelling paste dry.  So while that was happening I watched  the latest Inspector Montalbano episode on BBC iPlayer. I love the novels by Andrea Camilleri, and seeing that fabulous Sicilian scenery and sunshine was just right on a very wet and windy morning.  As the paste still wasn't dry I continued the Sicilian theme by making some Caponata to go with fish for dinner tonight. I'm sure Salvo would approve as what he eats is just as much part of the novels as the crimes he solves.

Eventually dry I then used PanPastels to colour my hearts and canvas, and was very bad and sprayed the fixative indoors,  I think it made the cats feel a bit funny, because they both laid down long enough for me to take a photo. So although it's a complete digression here are my two lovely fluffy Ragdolls.

Next was the mini tag cut out of Kraft cardstock and stamped with Peeled Paint DI  and Tim's flourish stamp, and a little bit of the long word strip also by Tim. The tag is grunged up with some Walnut Stain DI.

To finish off I swiped over the tissue with the Peeled Paint inkpad, added the twine and little bows, and distressed the edges of the canvas with more Walnut Stain DI

Have a lovely Sunday, even if it is raining.

Painty Experiments

I have been following an online class from Donna Downey this year called Canvas Create, where we get to paint a new canvas each month, trying out new techniques. I have to admit that some of my efforts have not really been fit for public view, but the August project was one I absolutely loved, because it uses the style of one of my favourite painters, Flora Bowley. Her work is just amazing.
So inspired by Donna's take on Flora's style here is the canvas that I have created, using my growing collection of Golden Fluid and Heavy Bodied Acrylics. These are the best paints I have ever used, and so worth the money.

I love Donna's videos and the wonderful technical terms she uses like drippage and gloppage (not sure if that's the right spelling but you get my drift I'm sure). And I had a ball with the drippage on this one, using my paints, Liquitex Acrylic Inks and a water spray bottle, plus a towel to mop up puddles, and apart from the small details it is pretty much all finger painting.  However, it is very important to ignore the phone when doing this or your telephone will be covered in a very interesting and completely abstract design.

 I've got a feeling that I should have stopped a bit before I did, but it's my first attempt and all part of the learning process. The size of my canvas is 18'' x 24'', and it's the biggest thing I've ever done, but I loved all the finger painting, and freedom that using a larger canvas brings, so I couldn't resist the best bargain of the year in the local home bargain store, where they have got some whopping 36'' x 48''canvases for sale at £1.99. I think the girl on the counter thought I'd gone mad as I struggled with five of these at the till.

Time is Flying

I seem to have had a real flurry of tag making activity this morning, and how appropriate that a little package containing some Ranger Foil Tape arrived in the post yesterday. No excuse not to make Tim's September tag.
I had a nice sticky time applying the tape to a tag and making little faux rivets. Then I discovered that my Black Alcohol Ink has run out, never mind Espresso and Denim seemed a fairly good substitution. I used the alarm clock Movers and Shapers die and cut it out of Grunge paper, and then painted with black and gold acrylic paint, sanded and inked with Walnut Stain DI to give a distressed look.

The saying is a PaperArtsy stamp that I have had for ages, I coloured the paper with Antique Linen DI and distressed the edges with Walnut Stain DI. The clock face is from a Tim paper stack, but I have nearly used it all and can't remember which one it is, and the other paper elements are from the Graphic 45 Steampunk collection. I kind of like the Art-Deco style flowers against the industrial background of the tag.

Autumnal Colours

Autumn was definitely in the air this morning, with a dense mist in the valley and the top of Salisbury Plain peeping through in the distance. I love this time of year, so it's a perfect excuse to get out those lovely autumn colours of Distress Ink.
The Compendium Of Curiosities Challenge this week over at Studio L3 (where Linda has made a beautiful autumn themed card) is to make something using  the technique found on page 44 of Mr Tim Holtz's Compendium of Curiosities Vol. 2, I can say Enameled Stamping, but to find out what to do you need the book.
My entry is a simple tag.

The frame is from the Tattered Elements set, and as you can see it's slightly off centre on my tag. This was not intentional, but I think it's worked out OK. The butterflies are stamped in Coffee Archival Ink, and then I've used Wild Honey, Spiced Marmalade and Rusty Hinge Distress Inks to colour my tag.
To finish off I' have rummaged around in my box of stash and used some Ideology , tissue tape, Salvage Stickers, and a little book plate.

A Light Bulb Moment

Not really, but who knows, I may get one one day.

Using my new, most favourite ever colour combination of Distress Inks, namely Peacock Feathers and Frayed Burlap I have made a Steampunk themed tag for this weeks Sunday Stamper challenge hosted by the lovely Hels over at Ink on My Fingers.  Hels has used some fantastic looking Crafty-Embelies bits and bobs on her canvas, they look really great and one lucky person will win a £10 gift voucher to spend in the Crafty-Embelies shop. Fingers crossed.

 As I've used my favourite bleached spot background on my tag I'm also entering this tag in Simon Says Stamp and Show Your Favourite Technique.

The tag is inked in my two fave colours and then given the splodgy bleached spot treatment, and then, using Coffee  Adirondack Ink I stamped the blueprint and bicycle ad from Tim's Steampunk set as my background, plus I stamped the blueprint on a bit of tracing paper and wrapped this round the left side if my tag. Next I got out what I think is the first stamp I ever bought, It's Face Art by Wendy Vecchi and stamped the woman's face which is coloured with tattered rose DI applied with a water brush and Broken China and Barn Door Distress Markers.

My Steampunk lady's hair  (or is it her brain sort of spilling out?) is made from an assortment of Ideology gears and sprockets, plus an old watch  mechanism. The wings are from the Steampunk paper that Graphic 45 did a couple of years ago, and I have glued on a light bulb with some multi medium.

 To finish off there are a couple of Ideology flowers, one with a little gear in the centre and the other with a Prima pebble.  

Now I'm going to sit out in the garden with a cool drink, and my laptop and have a little wander around blogland, which is something I haven't done much of recently I'm afraid.