Sunday Stamper: You raise me up.

I had to smile when I saw Hels Sunday Stamper challenge this week, she is so good at picking song titles! We are invited to use raised up techniques on our project. Now I have long been an admirer of Anna Dabrowska whose  blog can be found here and some time ago she did a journal page using a Klimt image set against some embossed squares. So I decided to try for a background using some of her methods.

 

I used about ten different embossing folders on white card then inked them with distress inks and stains in Mustard Seed, Wild Honey and Rusty Hinge and metallic stain Antiqued bronze. Then I chopped them up and stuck them down onto a piece of cardboard and went to work with Walnut Stain ink and my inking tool. I love my new Cecillia stamp by Chapel Road stamps and decided to use her but then the Simon and Garfunkle song kept drumming through my head and set the theme for the rest of the project. Here are two close-ups:

 

 

 

I stained an assortment of die cuts and flowers and bits and pieces from my stash in Black and the other colours I had already used. Then I put some black and white washy tape down alongside gingham ribbon. The broken heart is painted grungeboard and I used some scrim gathered up and painted amongst the flowers. There is a black diamonte scroll, black beads and gems, buttons and a wooden painted heart. Not sure now I am looking at it that I have placed things quite right, this layered look is not as easy as it seems! I am more pleased looking at it on my mantlepiece than at the photograph, the colours are much cleaner in real life. Hope to get back sooner next time, not sure where last week went! Cheers everyone. x 

Sunday Stamper: Man of the World

I have trouble in the craftroom again. I don't know if any of you remember the problems  I had with Eric and the configurations box? Click here for a reminder! I adore Eric but he can be a handful when he has the munk on. I was looking at my shelf of stamps to get inspiration for Hels challenge this week when he literally fell into my hands. Was he cross or what, said I hadn't used him for ages and that Olivia was beginning to think he was a has been! As if! So I took another of the door hanger type tags I had brought the other day and the 'You're a Star' stamp set from Artistic Outpost and inking up Eric tried to prove to him that his days as a Man of the world are not over!

 

I brushed acrylic over a piece of the Prima paper I had, edged with Black Soot, then stamped a star and two cogs to one side and Eric on the other. I coloured his outfit with distress markers and grounded him on a piece of ruler. The Stars are from grungeboard coloured with gold acrylic and shone up with viva gold paste. The sentiment is from the same set and stamped in Festive Berries and 'Eric' added from a small alphabet collection. The adore tab on the hanger is a 7 gypsies bracelet finding. I think Eric looks a bit happier now don't you? I hope that keeps him quiet for a while! Happy Sunday everyone.

Finishing UFO's!

I have made a pact with myself to try and finish some of the unfinished projects I have hanging around before I get stuck into something new. Some time ago I went on an Art Tour of Venice, Florence and Rome. It was amazing and I made a canvas with some memories of Venice that I posted yonks ago. Here at last is the one for Rome, just Florence to do now!



For a comparison here once again is the Venice one:

 

The Rome one is done on a canvas board and I sponged various acrylic washes over it and glued and then stripped off some sandy terricota shades of paper, I hope this reflects the wonderful stone in the Forum. Then I took five mini canvases  and treated them with the same paint. The figures on the top three are stamps and the botttom two are taken from a napkin I found, I couldn't believe it when I saw them, just right with the hands reaching out. I cried when I went into the Sistine Chapel. It is so beautiful it hurts.Then I added tickets and a Crucifix brought at St Paul's. Lovely memories.

The Venice canvas has a painted Gondolier, pieces from some paper bags and some stamps. I tried to make this mainly blue to reflect the canals. The metal crucifix was from St Marks.

I think this will spur me on to finish this trio now. I think Florence will have to reflect the lovely shades of the famous dome.

I will  now have a look in my projects box and start finishing something else!

Pocket money well spent!

I live quite near Snazzy's and popped in there this afternoon to pick up a few bits and ended up finding the Chapel Road stamp of Cecilia that I have wanted for ages and some door hangers to decorate (amongst other things I could not live without) and hot footed it back to the craftroom for a play! My dearest friend Sally is due her February something from me so I have made her a hanger to put on the door when she is creating.



Whilst browsing Val's lovely collection of 'things you can't live without' I found some new papers from Prima I had to have and cut out one for the background. Then I swiped distress stain in Wanut stain over and then some warm white acrylic which I quickly wiped away to give the weathered look. I found an old rusty key for the top, the stamp of Cecilia complete with a pearl necklace and a rose I made from some papers I had. The quote is from Paper Artsy and then the ticket and an ornate plate from idea-ology with a word stamp from Wendy Vecchi. An ornate corner and a vintage lace strip die cut for the bottom and there we go. If you are peeping Sally I have a few more bits to make you and I will post asap! Hope you are all finding the odd moment to 'play' - I certainly enjoyed spending my pocket money!

Sunday Stampers: Hearts.

Well, we have had a touch of the white stuff again this afternoon, it hasn't landed but it sure feels cold. I thought I would warm myself up a tadge with some inking and was adamant that I wanted to make sure I did Hels Sunday Stamper this week, which is Endless love and hearts. I got out my roller and Bubble Gum Pink Dylusions ink which made me feel warmer already!

 

Next I stamped on Tim's Blue Print Love Heart  with black archival and stamped it again on Festive Berries stained paper. I cut out the heart and sloshed clear Rock Candy Stickles over it before layering it on with a sticky fixer. Then I die cut his Vintage Strip die out of some black paper to semi frame the heart. I had the word 'amour' as a small freebie stamp so that went around the main image. Next I painted card with Festive Berries stain and used another heart words stamp over the top then  punched out three hearts and added glossy accents over the top. To finish I added the words 'i' and 'you' from his chit chat stickers and used my black pen to add some lines and arrows to bring the design into the space on the card. Lovely to feel in a Valentine mood, I think my dear old hubby will be getting this tomorrow. Hope you all get roses and chocolates! x

Tim's tag for February

I have had a lovely time making Tim's tag today and then on a roll I made another one using techniques he has shown us before! I know, two at once, I'm determined to make more time to craft! If you are one of the two people left on the planet who have not looked at Tim's blog pop over here to see his original and to enjoy all the participants entries.When I saw his Valentine Blue Print stamps they were a had to have and I'm glad that he used them on this months tag.

 

 

I had some of the materials he used and some I improvised on. I used a heart embossing folder and a little heart punch that I used on the Kraft core paper and a jewellery finding instead of the memo pin. The hand is a Dylusion stamp and I hand drew the vial label. I used some paper tape that had the words Love and Laugh on and some white paper twine that I distressed. Then I used one of the other stamps in the set to make this.

 

I used Picked Raspberry and Festive Berry and Picket Fence Distress stain on my craft mat for the background of the tag and frayed and then edged it with Black Soot. I then embossed a dark red Kraft core paper as on the tag before and stamped the heart in black archival. Remembering Tim's Valentine tag last February I used the honeycombe paper  for the large heart and then tied a word band on with some red twine. In Tim's December 2012 tag he cut out from mirror board, letters using Word Play, so as I found some ribbed pink foil card I did the same here and finished off the tag with a string of red beads that I think look quite heart shaped that were part of an old bracelet. I topped the tag with pink stained tissue tape - I love that technique, thanks Tim!

My next challenge is to try and jazz up my blog, but I'm having trouble with getting Mr Blogger to play! Watch this space - happy crafting one and all.