Pure Grunge.......

Wow - two posts in one day! While blog hopping this evening I came across a site called  Studio L3 with a great challenge - Grungy Monday - all things Tim Holtz. Fantastic - right up my alley. I have been looking for inspiration, and time to be able to be more creative on my own terms, and I just couldn't resist this. This weeks challenge is to use Distress Inks and take Tim Holtz's video demo of them as inspiration.

I created the following piece by covering a page in pages from an old book, then used his flourish masks and Stormy Sky, Bundled Sage and Victorian Velvet Distress Inks over the top to create patterned voids, and stamped on top with some of his word stamps. I then die cut the film strip and cogs dies in patterend paper and grunge paper, inked them up with the same coloured Distress Inks and then added metal embellishments to finish.

Jigsaw Piece

I love jigsaw puzzles, they have always been a fascination of mine, I love matching the pieces to create an image. I could pretty much guarantee that I would get at least one puzzle as a present every year, the harder the better!! So I love this weeks theme from Make A Moo of jigsaw piece. I created these by stamping the main images onto the Moo and hand colouring with markers. I then re-stamped the images onto another piece of card and punched out a section of the image with different jigsaw piece punches.

I hope you like the end result! I cannot believe that I have not been able to post anything since last Sunday! It has been a bit of a manic week, with very little free time to create art! Hopefully I can find some time this week to do more, and go surfing to see all your lovely work too.....

Vintage Love

I am so glad that it is Friday, what a busy week it has been, or rather a busy month! Definitely hit 2009 with a bang, and next week looks to be just as busy, if not more so....

Still I have a good weekend to look forward to, well on the most part anyway. Tomorrow I get to spend creating at a class held by Scrapbook Sisters, then hopefully will get some time in the evening to complete some of my projects. I will need to get some school work done on the Sunday though.

But for now I have managed to create these Moo's for Make A Moo this week by using pages from a book for the background and then added colour with chalk eyes. I then collaged the vintage images on top and punched the hearts, chalked the edges and added them to the background. I then finished them by adding Glossy Accents to the hearts.

Paper Dolls....

is the theme over at MMM this week, and I have combined it with the theme of Skinny's for TGIF. I drew the corset on a patterned piece of paper, added hand drawn detail and chalked the edges. I cut a piece of striped paper so it was wider at one end than the other and then pleated it up. I stuck the skirt onto the Skinny background paper at an angle, then added the corset on top. I found a great vintage lady and cut her top half out and added it behind the top of the corset, and finished my doll off with a funky little crown. Hope you like the end result.

Seeing Red...

doesn't always have to be a bad thing!! This is a great theme over at TMTA this week. For my ATC I added a smoky red background using chalk eyes, layered on a piece of an old book and then stamped the lady on a separate piece of paper, added her dress on top and added to the ATC. I finished with the red buttons and a dark brown edge to the ATC.

Bookmarks..

Are one thing I am always finding myself without - despite the fact that I do actually have quite a lot around somewhere!! So the challenge at OPH to create a bookmark was pretty apt, as I am currently in need of one.

I created two using collage and stamping techniques. I tore a text page and inked the edge in dark brown then glued to the background. I inked a word stamp in Versamark and stamped over the top, then added either clear emobssing powder and red distress embossing powder, then rubbed distress ink over the top once cool to make it stand out. To the left one I added the butterfly inchie stamp coloured with distress inks, and to the right I stamped some ink blots over the top and finished both by chalking the edges.

Friend For Life...

Dogs are man's best friend, so they say. But I do not have many craft items relating to them, I am rather a cat person myself!! However I do own this gorgeous stamp by Cherry Pie Arts, and decided it would be perfect for the challenge over at SWI&T. I found a scrap of paper that matched the stamp perfectly, the orange and brown complementing the shapes and patterns on the dalmation., which was stamped on a separate piece of card, cut out and placed on top. The wording in handwritten, and it is all finished by chalking the edges.

Buttons...

Most people I know have inherited, or have in the family, a button box - who doesn't love to rummage around in it? There is something strangely fascinating about rummaging through buttons, and I love to add them to my work! This is my arch, for Gothic Arches, on the theme created by layering two background papers together and placing a photo of my own inherited button collection on top. I manipulated the image in Photoshop to give it a more common colour theme. I then added buttons - some of many I own, and hand written wording. Hope you like it, please leave a comment and let me know what you think.....

Vintage Children

Is the theme over at Gothic Arches this week. Such a lovely theme, I found my image first and was hunting around for some wording to go with it, and came across this quote by Mae West. I think it suits the photo well. The background is made by collaging two patterned papers together, then matting the photo on top and stamping the quote separately, cutting it out and chalking the edges. I finished by layering two chipboard hearts over the photo in the bottom right corner.

Stapled Together

TMTA set the challenge to use staples in an ATC this week. For my ATC I stamped the background using a cranberry ink, then chalked the edges in blue. I then stapled a piece of red lace down the left side, punched some butterflies and then stapled them on, and finished with a stamped word which again was stapled. An interesting challenge as I rarely use staples in a decorative context.

Wee Witches.

This is my interpretation of the theme for Gothic Arches this week. Created using walnut ink and embossing powders for the background and layering some stamping and collaged images to create the whole. Hope you like the end result. Looking forward to Friday and an evening of fun!!

It's All About The Paper

I love paper and so does my cat Hugo - I came home to a huge disaster today. I walked into my lounge/diner only to find all my crafting materials and papers I left neatly stacked strewn all over the place, chalk eyes everywhere with lids missing, glue, scissors, pencils, and pens rolled under the furniture! But turning to look at Hugo - butter would not melt! He sure had fun getting up on the table and attempting to sit on the paper, but in the process sending everything flying - I think he must have had a bit of a scare when it all fell.

Anyway, Gothic Arches has given the challenge to use the technique of paper patchwork for this week. What a good opportunity to use all those odds and ends of papers that you keep in the thought that 'I will use that one day!' - well, today I did.

This arch is all pieced together using strips of paper left from layouts, odd circles left after cutting frames, pages from an old book, and punching a few butterflies from the same papers. I layered and glued the papers together for the background and then added some Gesso in areas to blend them together and make them flow, I rubbed it on with my finger and then rubbed most of it away again to get a smoky feel. I then finished by smudging some dark brown chalk eye around the circles. I hope you like the end result.

Daydreamer

Daydreaming is something we all slip into now and then, be it dreaming of an upcoming holiday, that fabulous pair of shoes in the window, or wondering what if.......

For Tag, You're It, I created a tag using muted greens and blues. I used a stamp by Paper Bag Studios on cream then distressed and inked the edges. I added a strip of patterned paper to the green tag and then added the image on top. I finished with a handwritten title, gems butterfly and ribbon.

Autumn

Today was the first day of Autumn, it will soon be time to put the clocks back and get ready for those really cold nights and very early sunsets. It would be good to have a few more days like yesterday before that though. I spent my Sunday sat on the beach, it was really quite hot!

Autumn was the theme for Make A Moo this week and these are my creations.

I coloured up a piece of card with orange, brown and copper chalk eyes, then stamped some leaves on top in Timber Brown Stazon. I cut this out and mounted one piece on black and used it as the background for the other. For the left one I then stamped a leaf on a separate piece of card and cut it out, mounting it on foam pads. The right one I punched out the leaf onto an autumn patterned paper, cut a black strip of card with the wording on and mounted both onto the stamped background. Both Moo's were finished of with Cinnamon Stickles.

Where Has All The Time Gone?

There just does not seem to be enough hours in the day to cram everything in that needs to be done at the moment. But I managed to find a bit of time to finish of this piece for Gothic Arches.

I used a selection of time stamps from Cherry Pie Arts, skeleton leaves, a tag, and a butterfly punch for this arch. Cream card with blue and creamy brown chalk eye rubbed over the surface was used as the background. I then stamped one stamp directly on the background and then two others onto pages of text and cut these out to apply on top. I then added the strip of paper with watches on and the tag and skeleton leaf. I then added a few punched butterflies on top to complete.

A section of the arch. I am not sure why I link butterflies with time, but for me the two seem to work together well.

Handwriting.....

can tell a lot about a person. This is the theme for TMTA this week. I have chosen to focus on the tools of the trade - pen and ink. I stamped the pens on the background and the ink bottles on separate paper. I also stamped the handwriting piece on a separate piece of paper, trimmed and chalked to look like a letter and attached it over the pens. I coloured up the ink bottles and attached over the top with foam pads so they are raised off the surface.For this one I stamped the pens on the background and the ink bottles separately. I cut around the bottles and added a little colour and chalked the edges. I then laid a piece of acetate over the background ans stamped the handwriting and attached in the corner with a brad. I then added the bottles of ink to the bottom, again with foam pads to raise them up.

I enjoyed layering these images and using traditional means of creating handwriting, I still love using dip pens, although I tend to use them to draw with rather than write! You can get some great results.

Pretty in Pink?

Pink is the theme set by Gothic Arches. I found this hard as I really am not into pink, but came up with two very different arches. The first one shown here is my second attempt. I used a pink cardstock as the base, tore up some text and added chalk to the surface and edges then glued this down. I then stamped two trees and embossed with a gold shimmer so they blend into the background. I then added a third tree in the middle and embossed in white, adding pink glitter to the leafy part. I finished by adding a few stamped butterflies and spraying a glimmer mist over ir all.

The arch below is my first attempt, I had something in mind but it did not work as well as I wanted it to, I wanted something a little different and quirky. I used Alien Quikutz dies and punched them out of varying pink and text papers. I stamped the circle frames and glued on two strips of text. I then placed all the little aliens and added glossy accents, and finished it all off with a few pink flowers and stickles.

All that Glitters...

Is GOLD.....

Who doesn't love a little bit of gold in their lives now and then? Great theme from OPH. I created this tag using a K&Co paper as a background and then stamping some great stamps from The Queen's Dresser Drawers on in Versamark and embossing them in gold. The stamps on the background paper are all differnt pens. I then stamped the ink bottles onto a torn page of text, and agian embossed them.

Close up details, a little hard to photograph late in the evening but the flash shows off the gold!

Right, time to pack up and get some rest, ready for the next hectic day, how many days left until the weekend??

What Every Little Girl Dreams Of......

to be the fairy Princess with her own set of wings and jewelled crown. Wings and Crowns was the theme for Sunday Postcard Art and this is my interpretation of the theme.

I cobbled this together by using a mixture of a hand painted strip, stamping, stamped acetate butterflies, punched hearts and hints of bling with stickles.

It has been good to be able to sit down and create after a hectic week back at work. The alarm going off so early was definitely a shock to the system!Still two days ahead to get in a bit of art and being able to play, as well as completing school work!

Circles

For the Wednesday Stamper challenge I created a circled background by stamping a variety of circle stamps so they overlapped. I then cut and punced a variety of circles in pink card and edged with chalk eye. I then stamped other images on cream card and cut them to fit inside the pink. It looks quite chaotic, and I was not overly keen on it once I completed it. But having gone away and looked back at it, it has grown on me!

Close up details of the layering:

Let me know what you think!