Antiqued Frame for Stampendous

I do enjoy a bit of upcycling and this project started life as a cheap plastic frame from the £1 shop.

Products used:
Stampendous Stamp: Strolling Skeletons
Stampendous Perfectly Clear Stamp Set: Spider Fear
DecoArt Gesso, Texture Sand Paste and Fluid Acrylics
Gilding wax
StazOn Ink

Here's a quick how-to:

Gesso a plastic picture frame with black gesso to cover it completely.

Mix Gold and Burnt Umber DecoArt paints to make a brassy colour. Dry brush this all over the frame.

Add a further layer of dry brushed black and gold gilding wax highlights.

Stamp the image onto mixed media paper. Ink with a beige colour to make it look old. Scrunch up the paper and flatten out again before inking over the highlights with a mid-brown tone to make them stand out.

Stamp the web onto the glass with StazOn.

Use Texture Sand Paste and paints to create a rusty bookplate. Print off wording, age as before and add behind the bookplate. Finish with a cut out spider.

(Since completing this the paint has cracked in some areas where I think the frame material has resisted the paint because it's plastic. I actually think this is really cool! But to avoid it, sand the frame lightly first.)

Happy Hauntings!

Katy x

DOTD Spooktacular Shrine for Stampendous

I just love all things Day of the Dead and this wonderful stamp set from Stampendous is no exception! I had lots of fun making this 'spooktacular' shrine!

Products used:
Stampendous Cling Stamps: Sugar Skull
DecoArt Chalky Finish Paints and Crackle Medium
Marker pens for colouring
Sakura Glaze Pen
MDF shrine kit

Here's a quick how-to:

Paint a shrine and base with Relic Chalky Finish, add Crackle Medium and when dry, a coat of Everlasting Chalky Finish over the top – allow to dry and crack. Edge with black ink.

Stamp lots of flowers and colour them in. Cut into some to make them smaller. Cut the leaves off others to use separately.

Glue the flowers all over the shrine as shown; add gems.

Stamp and colour the skull. Highlight the eyes and nose with a shiny pen (Sakura Gelly Roll) and add bling details. Secure inside the shrine with layers of cardboard to make it pop forwards.

Stamp the banner, fussy cut out and edge with black ink. Shape around a paintbrush handle before adhering – use lots of hot glue in the centre so it’s raised up.

Thanks for stopping by today,

Katy x

Graveyard Glamour for Stampendous

I do love to play with my stamps and explore new possibilities - here I combined two stamps to make my rather well dressed Halloween skeleton.

Products used:
Stampendous Cling Stamps: Andy Skinner - Birds & Bones; Angel Aviary
DecoArt Fluid Acrylics
Chipboard gravestones from Calico Craft Parts
Florist's moss

Here's a brief how to:

Stamp the skeleton onto white card and cut out. Stamp the fairy several times onto white card and once onto acetate. Cut out the skirt from the acetate. Colour the other images. Cut out the top of the skirt, her hair and various flowers.

Add crystal glitter to wings using glue pen. Use a permanent silver marker to highlight the wire structure in the skirt, working on the back of the acetate.

Assemble the ‘skeleton woman’ as shown.

To create the graveyard, treat a wooden block and MDF gravestones with Texture Sand Paste and paint light grey. Stamp the skull on the stones and mask it off. Add Relic Chalky Finish with a stipple brush. Follow with Viridian and Green Gold, also stippled in places, to mimic moss growing.

Adhere all elements to the plinth and finish with moss and some cobwebs made from hot glue gun ‘string'.

Happy Halloween!

Katy x

Stampendous/DecoArt Blog Hop - Handle with Care

It's the last day today of our our joint Stampendous/DecoArt Blog Hop and I'm sharing a mini journal page with you. I recently treated myself to a tiny weeny Moleskine watercolour journal and I love working in it - the small size is perfect for quick journaling or journaling on the go. I'm using this specific journal for mindfulness and self-care so there is a theme running through it which is echoed in the sentiment on this page - a reminder to be gentle with myself!

Prizes!!!!! Comment to win one of three HUGE prize packages that includes Andy Skinner stamps and DecoArt Media™ Paint plus more!  US winners only, see Stampendous Official Contest Rules here for more details.

Today's Hop List:

Stampendous Blog

Pam Bray

Jamie Martin

Louise Healy

Asia King

Janelle Stollfus

Lea Fritts

Alison Heikkila

DecoArt Blog

Here's how I made it (apologies for the state of the photos - it was late at night!):

1 Use a paintbrush, bottle lid and credit card to make marks in Payne's Grey paint onto the journal page (this is a technique I learned in Nathalie Kalbach's Creative JumpStart and I love it!)

2 Apply Cobalt Teal Hue and Cobalt Turquoise Hue paints over the top - the Fluid Acrylics from DecoArt are translucent and let all those lovely marks show through!

3) Colour a die cut heart with Pyrrole Red paint. When dry, stamp with the heart from the Handle with Care set to add texture.

4) Add random background stamping using Andy's Steampunk set. Add stencilled dots using the Pixelated stencil from DecoArt. Draw around the heart die cut with a Stabilo All pencil and blend out the pencil to create a shadow. Add scribbly lines with a paint pen.

5) Glue the heart in place and doodle around with white paint pen. Stamp the sentiment from the set and cut it up. Ink the edges to distress before sticking it in place.

Thanks for your visit today! Don't miss the other blogs.

Katy x

DecoArt/Stampendous Blog Hop - Specimen2675

Welcome to day four of the Stampendous/DecoArt blog hop - hope you've been enjoying all the inspiration so far! Today I've used Andy's Skulldoggery stamp set to create a kind of faux fossil effect on a tag.

Comment for a chance to win one of three HUGE prize packages that includes Andy Skinner stamps and DecoArt Media™ Paint plus more! US winners only, see Stampendous Official Contest Rules here for more details.

Here's the hop list for today:

Stampendous Blog

Louise Healy

Elly Pirally

Lea Fritts

DecoArt Blog

Sorry, I didn't manage to take any step pictures of this but briefly here's how I made it:
1 Cut a tag from mixed media or watercolour paper - something that can take wet media.
2 Squeeze drops of Yellow Oxide, Burnt Sienna and Raw Umber paints onto a craft sheet or other non-stick surface. Spray generously with water.
3 Swipe the tag into and through the paints - lightly so as not to over-mix the colours. Dry and repeat until you like the result. I was aiming for a look similar to natural rock (did I manage it?).
4 Stamp and heat emboss the skull stamp with white Stampendous embossing powder. When cool, add a wash of Yellow Oxide paint to tone down the white a little bit and blend the skull into the tag.
5 Finally stamp the wording in black, distress the edges of the tag and mat onto black cardstock.

Katy x

Butterfly Effect for Stampendous

Today I'm sharing something a bit different, a jewellery piece I created using Frantage Embossing Enamels. The basis of my pendant is an old domino - they make great working surfaces for a project like this as they can take a ton of heat. I called my piece 'The Butterfly Effect' as the swirls and colours have kind of a chaotic, turbulent feel.

Stampendous products used:

Cling Stamp: Starry Swirls (CRR284)

Frantage Embossing Enamels: Aged Teal, Aged Marine, Aged Wine

Versamark Watermark Inkpad

Other:

Domino

Glue bail

Butterfly charm (mine's from Vintaj)

Here's how I made it:

1 Cover a domino well with Versamark. Also ink up your stamp with Versamark ready for step 3.

2 Sprinkle with different colours of powder in different areas and heat. If the surface is lumpy add a little more powder and reheat until smooth.

3 Working quickly while the powder remains hot, press the pre-inked rubber stamp into the molten powder. Leave for a few seconds to cool a little before peeling away to reveal the design. 

To finish: Use a silver permanent pen (e.g. Krylon) to colour the edges. Add the bail and butterfly embellishment and it's done!

Katy x

DecoArt Andy Skinner Blog Hop

Prepare for dark and maybe even scary this week as DecoArt and Stampendous join forces and we get to play with Andy Skinner's fantastic new stamps!

I've had a lifelong fear of clowns... not totally sure why... Could be that I had a Jack-in-the-Box when I was very small that terrified the life out of me. Could be that I got addicted to serial killer books (still am) at an inappropriately young age - John Wayne Gacy - shudder......... Whatever the reason, I hate clowns! So there was only one way to go with Andy's skull with clown nose stamp and that was cathartic! As I started to express my fears my journal page got a little bit macabre; sorry about that! But if I haven't scared you away yet, here's a step-by-step tutorial of how I created my journal page.

DecoArt products used:
Media Crackle Paste
Media Crackle Glaze
Media Antiquing Cream - Black, White
Fluid Acrylics - Payne's Grey, Dark Grey Value 3, Carbon Black, Pyrrole Red
DecoArt Stencil:

Other products:
Stampendous Andy Skinner Stamps
Permanent black inkpad

1) Apply crackle paste through a stencil and allow to dry. Once dry, use a dry brush to roughly apply Payne's Grey and Dark Grey paints.

2) Add some drips of Payne's Grey paint.

3 Stamp the skull with permanent ink. Add some shadowing with a wash of grey paint and paint the nose red. Cover with Crackle Glaze.

4) Allow the glaze to dry fully and cut out the skull. Mix black and white Antiquing Creams to make dark grey and apply all over. Allow to dry.

5) Wipe back the cream with a baby wipe or damp cloth - I wiped most of it away so it was just in the crackles.

6) Place the skull onto your page and draw around it with a pencil. Use the pencil marks as a guide to create a Payne's Grey frame around the area where the skull will go. Mine dripped a bit so I went with it, as it echoed the drips above.

7) Add more stamped detail using the barbed wire image and permanent black ink.

8) Add some splatters of black paint (I used a wooden skewer for this) and stamp the word 'Fear'. At this point I wanted some more contrast so added some red paint drips.

9) To finish glue the skull in place and add some computer-generated wording.

Normal prettiness will be resumed shortly but in the meantime thanks for your visit today! I hope you're not too scared to come back!!!

Katy x

Stampendous Stencil Week - Vintage Box

This is one of my favourite Dreamweaver stencils and I love the vintage look of it on my altered box. This project started life as a cheap plywood box from the craft store, transformed with a little paint and Embossing Paste into a treasure box fit for something special!

Stampendous products used:
Dreamweaver Antique Keys Metal Stencil (FMFMS4053)
Dreamweaver Embossing Paste: Copper, Gold

Other:
Metal embellishments
Treasure Gold Gilding Wax
Brown paint

Here's how I made it:

1) Paint the box with raw umber paint all over. Wipe back in some areas to distress.

2) Place the stencil on top of the box -stencil through with both Copper and Gold Embossing Pastes, randomly applying them and allowing them to mix in places. The stencil doesn't quite cover the box so I waited for that to dry before adding additionally stencilling in the gap.

3) Add gilding wax around all the edges using your finger - I used a gold and copper shade to match the embossing.

4) Finish with metal embellishments (I also treated these with a little Treasure Gold).

Thanks for visiting!

Happy creating,

Katy x

Hawaiian Princess for Stampendous

The new Laurel Burch stamps by Stampendous went down a storm at Creativation (CHA) and this week the blog team are celebrating these new releases with our makes. I created a tag using the

Stampendous products used:
Laurel Burch stamp set: Blossoming Woman (LBCRS01)
Dreamweaver stencil: Plantain Leaves (DWLG656)

Other products:
Watercolour paints
Memento Ink: New Sprout
Permanent black inkpad
Black fine pen
White gel pen
Twine

Here's how:
1 Stamp Blossoming Woman onto a tag - I stamped her offset from the centre. Stamp the flower twice onto a separate piece of paper.
2 Colour all the images with watercolour paints (I used a loose style with lots of water so the paint bleeds in places - I like the natural effect). Cut the flowers out. Stamp the woman again onto scrap paper and cut out to make a mask.
3 Place the mask and stencil the leaf design all around in New Sprout ink.
4 Remove the mask and add shading all around the main image with grey watercolour.
5 Add the flowers on 3D foam squares for depth and add some white gel pen dots to the floral details. Finish with yellow twine.

Don't miss the inspiration from the rest of the team on the Stampendous blog this week!
Katy x

Winter Pink Your Life Card

Continuing this week's snowy theme, I am sharing a sweet little card created with one of the lovely Pink Your Life stamps that were released last year.

Here's how I made it:

1) Stencil the snowflakes onto deep blue cardstock using Dreamweaver Embossing Paste. Allow to dry.

2) While that is drying, stamp the angel and colour her with pencils. Stamp a snowflake with Versamark and emboss it with Sparkle Puff embossing powder before cutting out with the matching die.

3) Add a really light wash of blue Twinkling H20s (you could use ordinary watercolours too but I like the sparkle in H20s) over the snowflakes. You don't want complete coverage, rather a mix of blue and white areas.

4) While you have the H20s out, add a paint wash around the edge of a white card blank and to the snowflake die cut.

5 Assemble as shown, using 3D foam to raise up the angel.

Thanks for visiting me today - hope you come back soon.

Katy x

Stampendous products used:

Stampendous/Pink Your Life Cling Stamp - Little Angel

Stampendous Cling Stamps - Delicate Snow

Stampendous Cutting Dies - Delicate Snow

Stampendous Stencil - Snowflake Cascade

Stampendous Embossing Powder - Sparkle Puff

Dreamweaver Embossing Paste - Regular

Plus:

Black inkpad

Watercolour paint

Blue and white cardstock

Colouring pencils

Stampendous Snow Wonderful!

All this week Stampendous are having a snowy week (hoping that prediction doesn't come true here in the UK!) with lots of lovely wintry projects to share with you.

I've been playing a lot more with Frantage and have to say I am totally in love with this line of products - yes it's embossing powders but SO much more, it's such a unique product line that can create a wealth of effects. I'd encourage you to have a play with it for yourself.

But I digress... I created a bauble for this week's prompt. My base is a wooden MDF bauble shape but you could always die cut a circle of chipboard and poke a hole in it. You just need something sturdy as you will be applying a lot of heat. I feel the need to give a little warning too (yes I know you're all adults but...) embossing enamel is really hot and sticky and it really, really burns if you put your fingers in it! So use caution. OK now the fun can begin.

Sorry no step pics today but here's how I created it:

1 Seal the bauble with a coat of white gesso or paint.

2 Apply a layer of embossing ink (I favour Versamark) then a layer of clear embossing enamel and heat - this creates a nice base for the rest of the embossed layers. It might be a bit lumpy but that's not a problem so keep going!

3 Now the fun bit! Ink the bauble again with embossing ink. Choose a selection Frantage enamels and sprinkle them in bits and bobs over here and there. Heat GENTLY not getting the heat tool too close. A 'hairdryer' shaped heat tool is really a must - the nozzle ones are too powerful and the powder blows away!

4 I began with a layer consisting mostly of Chunky Silver enamel with a sprinkle of other colours to help build depth. I then kept adding layers using a mix of colours sprinkled in separate patches. This piece has about 5 layers in total.

5 Once you are happy, ink up the snowflake with white pigment ink (I used Colorbox Color Pop by Susan K Weckesser) - you need to prep the stamp first as you have to work quickly. Reheat the powder well so it's really molten then press the stamp into the enamel. Push down gently to give the stamped impression some depth and leave for a few seconds to allow the enamel to set slightly.

6 Remove the stamp. Define the snowflake by dry brushing some dark blue paint (I used DecoArt Prussian Blue Hue which is a really dark, rich blue) over the raised areas. Hightlight some of the texture with a silver gilding product (I used DecoArt Metallic Lustre). Add a string and you're done.

It's not easy to explain this in words so I will try to do a video sometime to show the process in more detail. Hope you like my little bauble - he looked very pretty on my tree but would also make a nice winter hanger for a doorknob I think.

Stay warm!

Katy x

Stampendous Products Used:

Stampendous Cling Stamps: Delicate Snow
Stampendous Frantage Deep Impressions Chunky Embossing Enamel - Clear, Silver
Stampendous Frantage Embossing Enamels - Aged Teal, Aged Marine, Aged Wine, Aged Silver
Versamark Embossing Ink
White pigment inkpad
DecoArt Fluid Acrylic - Prussian Blue Hue
DecoArt Metallic Lustre - Silver Spark

You can find all the Frantage products here: http://www.stampendous.com/shop/embossing-powder/frantage-embossing-enamel/

PYL Blog Hop Happy Hello Card

Hi all - it's the last day of the Stampendous Pink Your Life blog hop - I hope you've enjoyed it! Today I have a really simple card to share with you using one of the newest releases - Whisper Sunflower.

I simply stamped the Sunny Tile repeatedly in yellow ink then added a strip of twill ribbon. Centred on the card is the Whisper Sunflower image coloured with Graph-It markers, cut out and added with 3D foam. I actually stamped the image on the card blank as well, for placement and so I could add the grey shading before sticking the cut out image in place. A simple greeting finishes the card.

Thanks for visiting today
Katy x

Stampendous products used:
Pink Your Life Cling Stamp Whisper Sunflower
Cling Stamp Sunny Tile
Perfectly Clear Stamps Happy Messages

PYL Blog Hop Christmas Tag

Hope you are enjoying our celebration of Pink Your Life stamps this week at Stampendous. I've used one of the Christmas releases today to create a seasonal tag. I don't like a lot of Christmas stamps but this Santa is just adorable isn't he?

Here's how I created it:
1 Repeatedly stamp the snow background with Versamark onto a kraft tag, emboss with Sparkle Puff embossing powder.
2 Press a Versamark pad through the stencil that comes with the snowflake set. Emboss the area with Sparkle Puff. Stamp, emboss and die cut another snowflake and place it offset over the other snowflake.
3 Tear a scrap of kraft card, dab the top edge with Versamark and emboss with Sparkle Puff. Glue to the tag so that Santa can 'stand' on it.
4 Colour Santa with Graph-It markers and ad him on 3D foam. Use a Stabilo All pencil to add some shadowing around him.
5 Rub the edges of the tag with white paint and finish with a bow.

Thanks for stopping by!
Katy x

Stampendous products used:
Perfectly Clear Pink Your Life Winter Friends
Cling Stamps Delicate Snow
Cling Stamp International Snow
Sparkle Puff Embossing Powder

Spooky Graveyard for Stampdendous

A spookilicious make for Stampendous today! Using the super cute Who Am I? stamp.

Here's how I made it:

1 Paint a wooden block with black gesso (you may need two coats). When dry, use a light touch to sponge purple paint over the black, leaving areas of the black visible. (I used artist grade fluid acrylic paint so I mixed mine with Tinting Base to make it opaque.)

2 On the top of the block, use a palette knife to apply black embossing paste through the Stone Background stencil. When dry, dry brush with grey paint to highlight the texture.

3 Die cut the tree from black card. Cut off the lower branches and keep one back. Dry brush the tree and branch with grey paint.

4 Hand cut a gravestone in grey card and stamp it all over in black with the stone effect stamp from the Andy Skinner set.

5 Die cut bats and glue them to pieces of wire. Pierce a hole in the middle of the block with a pokey tool and fill with glue before adding the wires into the hole.

6 Add the tree to the reverse of the block. Add a tab to back of the gravestone so it will stand and glue that in place towards the back of the block.

7 Glue the offcut from the tree to the front of the block. Stamp the greeting onto grey card, inking the bottom portion only. Cut out and distress the edges before adding over the branch on 3D foam.

8 Stamp and colour the ‘Who Am I’ little creature stamp (I used Inktense pencils). Add a tab to the back of him and adhere at the front of the block.

Hope you like my 3D creation - thanks for visiting today.

All the stamps and stencils are available from Stampendous.

Katy x

Spooky Graveyard

Products used:
Stampendous products:CRQ226 Who Am I Stampendous Cling Stamp
CRV322 Shadows Stampendous Cling Stamp
ASCRS03 Andy Skinner Industrial Cling Stamp Set
DWLG611 Stone Background Dreamweaver Stencil
DWDX7020 Leafless Tree Dreamweaver Die
DEPMB Dreamweaver Matte Black Embossing Paste
MPW811 Mixed Media Paper

Other: Cardstock – black, grey
DecoArt Media Gesso – Black
DecoArt Media Tinting Base
DecoArt Media Fluid Acrylics – Dioxazine Purple, Medium Grey Value 6
Derwent Inktense Pencils
Bats die cutter (mine is Sizzix)
Dark coloured wire
Sponge (a washing up sponge or bath sponge works fine)

Steampumpkin!

BOO!

I love Halloween and I am especially fond this chap from Stampendous! The stamp has so many layers that it's great to take apart and layer - I've just used the one stamp for this whole creation. The clock is part of the image.

Here's how I created it:

1 Die cut several pocket watches and cut the centres from all but one. Paint them with bronze coloured paint (you are going to layer them so you can just paint the edges on all but the top and bottom pieces).

2 Cover the top part of the frame with Versamark. Emboss the frame with Aged Copper embossing enamel. While the powder is still molten add a little Seasonings powder here and there and heat again to melt the seasonings into the powder.

3 Add some Spoonful of Rust here and there and heat to set the elements.

4 Sponge the frame lightly with black StazOn to ‘age’ it.

5 Stamp the pumpkin onto copper and silver metal sheet. Cut the large clock out in a circle the same size as the frame from the copper sheet.

6 Colour the stamped image with pencils. Cut some of the elements of the silver metal sheet and add the details to the stamped image.

7 Add some metal embellishments and stickers saying ‘13’.

8 Glue the copper metal piece to the back piece of the frame. Trim off the excess stamped image so it will fit into the chipboard frame – you want to position him so his hat will protrude beyond the edges of the watch frame. Stick just the very bottom most edge of the stamped image to the background but don’t glue his torso or head yet.

9 Layer up the frame pieces and glue them together with the embossed one on top. Add over the pumpkin collage. Add some 3D foam under the pumpkin’s head to lift it and adhere the feathers on his hat to the outside of the frame.

Products used:
Stampendous products:
CRR269 Steam Pumpkin Stampendous Cling Stamp
EJS05 Spoonful Rust
FREG025 Frantage Embossing Enamel – Aged Copper
FREG044 Frantage Chunky Embossing Enamel – Seasonings
MPW811 Mixed Media Paper
WA101 Versamark Watermark Ink Pad

Other:
Sizzix Die – Pocket Watch Frame
Copper paint
StazOn Ink – Jet Black
Copper and silver coloured metal sheet
Derwent Inktense Pencils
Metal embellishments
Number stickers
3D foam tape