Creative Chemistry 101

So I decided to go ahead and sign up for Tim's Summer of Creative Chemistry programme. I wasn't sure if it was for me as I am quite experienced with Distress products but so far I am enjoying the prompts and revisiting some of my favourite products (plus Tim's videos are quite soothing to listen to!).

Colours: Abandoned Coral, Mustard Seed, Spiced Pumpkin, Aged Mahogany, Fossilized Amber, Walnut Stain

Stamps are Tim Holtz and PaperArtsy

Colours: Mustard Seed, Picked Raspberry, Seedless Preserves

Stamps are Stampendous and PaperArtsy

Colours: Salty Ocean, Broken China, Squeezed Lemonade, Cracked Pistachio, Evergreen Bough, Peacock Feathers, Vintage Photo, Mustard Seed, Fossilized Amber, Spiced Pumpkin

Stamps are Tim Holtz

These tags are from the first lesson - a) water spritz, b) watercolour stamping and c) good old wrinkle free distress. They took me less than half an hour per tag so I am hoping this exercise will get the old mojo going again!

More to follow (well hopefully, you know I only made it to about April with the tags right? LOL).

Katy x

Distressed Journal

 

Just a quickie post today - a vintage style journal I made. I kept it nice and flat so it's practical to use as I intend to write my notes in it. My fave blue and brown combo is making an appearance again!

Here's how I made it:

1) Collage a background using elements cut from Tim Holtz papers. Cover it with gesso, thinned down so you don't obscure all the detail.

2) Add Distress Inks in Stormy Sky, Broken China, Gathered Twigs and Walnut Stain. Add background stamping (PaperArtsy) with Walnut Stain and also Archival Inks in black and Potting Soil,

3) Stamp journal (PaperArtsy) onto a scrap of card and ink it up, Mat with scraps of book page. Stamp the boy (Paperbag Studios) and colour him too. Outline him with Stabilo All pencil and a water brush. Embellish with metal pieces to finish,

That's it for today :). See you soon!

Katy x

Shabby Journal Page

Feeling a bit of a vintage vibe this week so I've created a shabby looking journal page today  - for once for no other reason than I felt like it! The background is Distress Sprays in Tattered Rose and Antique Linen - spritzed at the top then allowed to drip down the page. I love this soft colour combo and loving the drips - will do this technique again I am sure.

Other than that it's just a bit of layering and stamping. My stamps are Lost Coast (lady), Visible Image (phrase) and Tim Holtz (damask shape and Paris postmark).

Thanks for popping over!

Katy x

Vacation Time

Yes, it's January and with Christmas gone and forgotten I'm already longing for a holiday! So I decided to dig out one of my oldest but best loved Rubber Dance sets and create a card with a travel theme.

I turned to my favourite ever colour scheme - blue and brown again! - and created in a vintage style which I think really suits this particular stamp set.

Here's how I made it:

1) Stamp the Venetian image, 'carte postale' and the postcard onto white card. Watercolour them with Distress Inks and a water brush. I used these colours: Tumbled Glass, Faded Jeans, Blueprint Sketch, Pumice Stone, Hickory Smoke, Vintage Photo. Crumble the Venetian scene and postcard to age them and ink the edges.

2) Splatter a cream A6 card with Tumbled Glass Distress Spray. Stamp the card with various images in Sepia and Jet Black Archival Inks. Ink the edges with Vintage Photo.

3) Layer the cut pout images onto the card blank with 3D foam for dimension - and you're done. Not a difficult card to create this one :).

Katy x

I used these lovely Rubber Dance stamps;

Travel

Postcard

Envelope Stamps

Spooky Spells

I LOVE Halloween but I haven't had a lot of time for Halloween makes this year. I have however found the time somehow to make this fun altered book box for the DecoArt Haunts Challenge!

Now, seeing as the judge is Mr Andy Skinner I obviously won't be in line to win! But still, having joined the fantabulous Helping Artist Programme at DecoArt, I wanted to take some time to experiment more with the DecoArt range of products and this seemed like an ideal opportunity for a good old play.

The box is covered with lightly scrunched tissue paper to give it a creased leathery look then coated with DecoArt Media Black Gesso - ONE coat my friends - this product is awesomeness in a pot. I then added some stringy fabric I got in the Halloween section at Wilko's and added more gesso over the top. I followed that with a light smearing of DecoArt Metallic Lustre in Silver Spark then Champagne Ice to bring out the textures of the tissue and string. The webs are die cut (Tim Holtz for Sizzix) in white card and given a wash of Payne's Grey paint from the Media line. I blended the edges of the webs into the background with more black gesso before highlighting some areas again with the Metallic Lustre in Silver Spark. My spiders are plastic kiddies ones given a coat of black gesso then a touch of Quin Gold Media paint.

Behind the aperture I added some book page covered in strips of mummy's bandage! The bandage is created with torn pieces of calico dyed with Distress Sprays in Antique Linen, Hickory Smoke and Tea Dye, then glued down in rows onto the book page. I love this!!!

My MDF skull (The MDF Man - he does the NEC show amongst others) is painted with white gesso to undercoat it before I slapped on a great load of DecoArt Media Crackle Paste with a palette knife. I varied the thickness to get an uneven crackle - the thicker paste gives bigger cracks. Cool or what? Only thing I don't like about this crackle is I need patience with it (patience I do not have in spades!) as this took a good 8 hours to dry properly (it was VERY thick). Worth it though, heh? When dry I covered the whole thing with DecoArt Antiquing Cream in grey. I didn't actually let it dry as per the instructions because I wanted the skull to have plenty of white remaining, so I wiped it straight back with a baby wipe so mostly it was left in the cracks. I then added black Antiquing Cream around the edges and under the eye sockets - again I didn't let it fully dry before removing the excess as I didn't want it too dark (I also didn't want to scrub too hard at the crackle as it can come off if you are very heavy-handed).

Finally (did you get this far? Well done!!!) I did some faux metal effects on this die cut bookplate and also on the metal corners and keyplate. This is black gesso, then DecoArt Sand Texture Paste, then DecoArt Metallic Gold paint, then more black gesso then Quin Gold - the latter two just applied in places with my finger. On the metal items, I used Metallic Lustre instead, adding it last after the Quin Gold rather than before. The brads are bashed with a hammer and then brushed with black gesso. Hard to see here but the insert in the bookplate is also distressed with Distress Sprays - same colours as used for the bandages.

Phew! Sorry that might be information overload!!

Thanks for visiting today! And if you want to learn more about DecoArt stuff I have just started out doing workshops in Bromsgrove (England) - info on my Facebook page.

Katy x

Sew Sweet

Been playing with my new Rubber Dance Sew Sweet stamp set today - I made an teeny weeny ATB (artist trading block) with a mannequin perched on top.

It's simply made. The die cut box was inked with Wild Honey and Victorian Velvet Distress Inks (one of my fave colour combos) and over-stamped with the buttons image in Coffee Archival. Two dress forms back-to-back are glued to a piece of strong wire and then into a mini cotton reel (I use a big fat blog of Pinflair Glue Gel to fix it into the hole). I then just embellished with lots of elements from the stamp set and few sewing bits like buttons and press studs.

It's so dinky - it's really cute!!!

Thanks for visiting me today,
Katy x

I used these (MY!) Rubber Dance stamps:

Sew Sweet set

Winter Wishes

Well, I wasn't lucky enough to be picked for the Noor! UK DT but I had the Christmas die cuts to hand so I created another card to enter into the Noor Monthly Challenge - theme Christmas (you might have guessed that!).

It uses Joycrafts dies, Evergreen Bough and Tumbled Glass Distress Inks, DecoArt Media silver metallic paint and a touch of glitter. Just a simple but pretty layered card.

Katy x

Tim's Tag July

Here's my version of Tim's Tag for July. I used two panels rather than three as I wanted to use larger stamps. I used Distress Inks in Pumice Stone, Black Soot, Broken China and Mermaid Lagoon for the painting and Antique China and Scattered Straw for the second layer of ink over the Distress Glaze.

My background is a page from an old A-Z map rather than patterned paper and I added a few splatters to tone it with the stamped panels. I used staples to add detail as I don't have a sewing machine.

Hope you like my version of the tag for this month!

Katy xxx

Guest Designer - A Sprinkle of Imagination

Super delighted to be guest designer again for A Sprinkle of Imagination today. I used gorgeous Finnabair stamps, available from their shop.

Hop on over to the Sprinkle of Imagination blog for all the info on this piece, I'll be guesting again towards the end of the month - can't wait!

Katy x

Rubber Dance Romance

Another romance-themed make from me today. No idea what has gotten into me -  I think it must be weather! I've created a card for a change; not something I make all that often. I used lots of layers and a vintage style.

1 My background is Spun Sugar, Worn Lipstick and Abandoned Coral Distress Inks, overstamped with the Rubber Dance Flourishes background. Finally I added splats of Picket Fence (white) Distress Stain Spray.

2 The next layer is book page topped with a piece of vellum stamped and embossed in white using Rubber Dance's Lace background and trimmed with pinking shears.

3 My stamped image is called Retro Couple (one of my faves) and is stamped with Archival Potting Shed and loosely colour with dabs of Distress Ink (Worn Lipstick, Tea Dye, Walnut Stain).

4 Finally to embellish I used paper flowers, metal embellies and a stamped quote from the Rubber Dance set Collage Elements 2.

Hope you like my card - thanks for visiting me today!

Katy x

I used these awesome Rubber Dance stamps:

Retro Couple

Collage Elements 2

Lace

Flourishes

Mixing It Up

I love collage-style creations and I've used this layering technique a few times on journal pages. Today I decided to go 3D and have a go at the technique with bulkier embellishments on a mini canvas. One thing I love about this technique is you can use up some really old ugly stash and you can't tell - the brads and flower I used were really hideous colours but you'd never know. Frugal makes me feel good :).

I love a good challenge as you know so am entering this for:

- Love to Create: Anything Mixed Media

- Frilly and Funkie: Something to Say (as my focal point is the wording here)

The background is layers of die cuts, ribbon, string and so on, then a layer of metal pieces and finally some more 3D elements. I covered the whole lot with white gesso before spraying with Distress Spray Stains and then (after drying) adding areas of deeper colour with Silks Acrylic Glazes. The stamped quote is from one of Finnabair's stamp sets from Prima.

It's finished off with my usual go-to Treasure Gold (White Fire) - I seem to be slightly obsessed with it....

Not too shabby for a first go and it matches my craft room decor beautifully. It's positioned right in from of my desk so I can always see those brief but inspiring words when I work.

Thanks for popping over peeps!

Katy x

Still wishing for the seaside!

Yes, I am back in my seaside themed comfort zone again - get used to it - I might be there until the end of summer!!! The background is basically a gesso resist with Distress Spray Stains - described in detail below if you want to know more.

Today's creation is going into a few challenges that inspired it (gotta love a challenge when you need some ideas to get you started).

- Art with Heart June Challenge - Summer with Sizzix

(I used three Sizzix dies - Cobblestones, Tattered Pinecone (foliage) and Sand & Sea)

- That Craft Place - Layers 

(Many MANY layers - check out my info below)

And last but not least...

- Simon Say Stamp Monday Challenge - Mist and Stamp

(I used Distress Spray Stains and Cosmic Shimmer Mists, plus a Prima texture stamp (Finnabair), and shell and quote stamps (Rubber Dance New Retro Beach set).

Here's a little more info about how I made it.

The background is layered up as follows:

1 Torn pieces of book page, Sizzix Cobblestones die cuts (torn into pieces) and net ribbon.

2 A loose coat of white gesso - the coverage is incomplete.

3 Distress Spray Stains in Squeezed Lemonade, Wild Honey, Salty Ocean and Evergreen Bough. I added a few layers, drying between. The gesso resists the ink and the book page is more absorbent than the background, so you get paler and darker areas of each colour.

4 Circles created with texture paste through a stencil (Tim Holtz), then painted over with a wash of Distress Paints in Salty Ocean and Evergreen Bough once dry.

5 At this stage I added a touch more spray here and there and stamped speckles around the edge in Potting Shed Archival.

The background is mounted onto torn corrugated card which has been lightly gessoed.

The decor was created as follows:

1 Seahorse: Die cut and sprayed with two colours of Cosmic Shimmer Mist - dried and then inked with Wild Honey and Walnut Stain Distress Inks. Then spritzed with a Distress Marker Spritzer and a Frayed Burlap Distress Marker to create the speckles.

2 Foliage: Cut from the Tattered Pinecone die, inked with Bundled Sage and Peeled Paint Distress Inks and stamped with the same Prima texture stamp for detail. Glued only on the central stem to allow it to to be bent upwards to simulate movement. The chipboard foliage is Tando.

3 Sea Bed: Pieces of torn sandpaper, driftwood, a real shell and stamped shells inked to match the real one.

Many of the elements are glued with Pinflair for dimension.

Took a fair old while to make this but I think it was worth the effort :).

Thanks for popping in!

Katy xxx

Frighten Me with Tando

Aaarrrgggggggggggggghhhhhhhhhhhhhhh spiders!!! Now THAT'S scary!!!

Yes for the frighten me theme my mind immediately turned to spiders (shudder...........). Now I know that spiders are lovely and eat horrid flies but I am afraid it's still down to hubby to humanely remove them!!

For my make I covered the arch in torn pieces of book page and inked them with Distress Inks in Dusty Concord and Seedless Preserves, I then added swipes of white paint to tone it down before embossing the stamped cobwebs in silver. I also added some areas of crackle paint for a more distressed look. 

My spiders are covered in black paint, Glossy Accents and silver ink. The big spider has eight creepy eyes!!!

For my creation I used the following Tando goodies:

Spiders Grab Bag

Layered Arch with Cobweb

Hope you are suitably scared!!

K x

Tando Animals Week

The theme this week at Tando is animals - and as anyone who sees my Facebook shares will know, my fave animals are bats! This also means I love Halloween, so here's a card featuring a pair of winged beauties in a spooky, misty Halloween scene!

I used the Tando Minis Bats for my main focal point, simply painting them black for a silhouette effect.

The moon is created using a circle mask around which I blended Distress Inks. I then used the negative of the circle to add some light yellow colouring and speckled stamping in grey to the moon, giving it more detail.

The Stampendous landscape stamp is added in grey to make it look like it's shrouded in mist. Finally I placed the bats silhouetted against the full moon and added a sentiment by Stampotique.

Hope you like! Happy Hauntings!!!

K x

Inspired by IKEA!

It was a beautiful weekend here and on Sunday I sat in the garden watching the bees feast on our rhododendron flowers. I think the sun made me get out the bright colours out and I spent a happy day in the craft room yesterday and made this, featuring my fave all time stamp, Stampotique's Big Bee.

Inspiration sometimes comes from unexpected places and the inspiration behind this piece was some packaging material that came out of IKEA furniture..... My strange mind saw this and thought - honeycomb! So of course I squirreled it into that box of stuff marked 'too good to throw away!'

I sprayed the packaging with yellow and gold spray inks before tearing it off the backing and into pieces. Love the organic look! My bees have acetate wings covered with Stickles and White Fire Treasure Gold on the reverse so they really shimmer. I also added a domed body to give them some extra dimension. My original concept for this piece didn't include the sunflower - the SSS Challenge inspired me to add that detail and I think it finishes the piece really nicely.

I'm entering this into some challenges:

Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge - theme Botanical

That's Crafty Challenge - theme Krafty (kraft card, which I used for my banner plus the packaging card is kraft coloured too)

Country View Challenge 15 - Nature's Glories

Stamps/products used: IndigoBlu stamp (sunflower), Stampotique Big Bee stamp, Wendy Vecchi Studio490 stamps (hexagon and sentiment), Distress Inks - Scattered Straw, Wild Honey, Mustard Seed, Rusty Hinge, Gathered Twigs, Stickles- Platinum, Treasure Gold - White Fire.

Distress Inks masterclass anyone?

My next class - a Distress Inks Masterclass - is now up for booking on over at Bubbly Funk! Distress Ink techniques are something I have been asked for by people attending other workshops, so I put this class together just to teach all the fab things you can do with these inks (can you tell I really like Distress Inks!).

Class takes place on Sat 7th May - it's almost all day 10.30-4. Look forward to meeting you if you come along!

On a side note, a few people have asked me if the class will run again because they can't make the date - do leave me a comment if this applies to you because if there is enough demand I am sure Caroline will repeat the class later in the year :).

I have a lovely vintage sewing themed project in the pipeline for June so keep an eye out for more info on that.

Bye for now :)

Gingersnaps Challenge - Heat

Well, giving the recent UK weather, 'Heat' is quite an appropriate theme for Gingersnaps this week!

My offering for the challenge has a touch of the tropical and uses my new Tattered Angels Coastal stamp set (lovely big 12x12 stamp set, super yummy). The finished card is A5 size.

The colours are richer in real life but it was hard to get a good pic.

Here's the destructions as usual:

Materials...

Tattered Angels stamps: Coastal
Autumn Leaves: Borders
Distress Inks: Wild Honey; Spiced Marmalade; Fired Brick; Barn Door; Mustard Seed
Versafine Ink: Black

2" circle punch
Cardstock
Post-It Notes

Method:

1) Punch a 2" circle from a Post-It Note. Place bottom centre on a piece of card and ink the card using the Distress Inks (except Mustard Seed), starting with the lightest colour (Wild Honey). Add the inks in layers and blend the inks to create a graduated effect as shown.

2) Remove the mask and ink the sun with Mustard Seed. The go over the edges of the sun with Wild Honey. This is to give a blurred effect around the edge of the sun and blend it into the rest of the card.

3) Stamp the palm tree in black. Cut a piece of paper into a hill shape and, using the paper as a mask, blend black ink around the base of the card as shown. Cover up part of the sun to give the illusion it is setting.

4) Add a border and word. Mat and layer the card as shown.

Pop over to Gingersnaps to see what the rest of the DT created and to play along with our challenge :).

Katy x