Vintage Journey: Spring Flowers.

I have incorporated the Vintage Journey challenge this fortnight with another charity shop 'find'. First I will show you the 'Spring Flowers'  which is this weeks challenge.



I have used a distressed and stamped background using some of Tim's stamps and some I had in my stash. Then I inked the background edges with Worn Lipstick  and Frayed Burlap DI. Then I used the courtyard on the edge die from Tim, coloured it with DP and then aged it with some Walnut stain DI. I coloured and stamped some of the inside tiles and used a mirror tile as Tim did in this months tag. The flowers are his tattered florals die and I used Buckram coloured with alcohol ink and then added a little one made form his tattered pinecone die. I also put in some hessian pieces and wooden buttons for texture. I stamped and coloured with DI on the greenery die and then used Word Play for the words. Why Embroidery silks I hear you musing? Well I have just enrolled on a City and Guilds course to learn Stumpwork embroidery and needed somewhere to store all my threads. Hence this bargain picked up in our local Hospice charity shop for the stunning price of £2.99p!

 

I think it was a sock drawer that nobody wanted and it is beautifully made. Next step was to get

colour co-ordinated!

 

Then cut some hardboard to go over the top and decorated it with the theme for a Vintage Journey, Spring Flowers......

 

My new thread box!

Now I have to get my head round trying to stitch a branch of an orange tree with leaves and fruit in stumpwork. I hope I haven't bitten off more than I can chew, I'll keep you posted!

Hope you are all having a wonderful Easter holiday. Thanks for looking xx

How lucky am I?

I have just got in from work and look what was waiting for me!



This is the fabulous haul from Hel's give-away that I won the other week. Isn't it wonderful? Thank you so much Hel's I am going to have the bestest time playing with all this! Can't wait to get my fingers inky. I will post my first make as soon as I can!

Have a lovely week everyone. xx

Sunday Stamper: Flame Colours.

A great challenge to get us in a sunny Spring mood over on Hel's challenge the Sunday Stamper this week! She has asked us to use Flame colours - yellows oranges and reds. I thought I would incorporate an old stamp I have not used for ages and this is what I have come up with.



I took a Prima tag and chopped the end off. Then I inked the background with Squeezed Lemonade and Mustard Seed and Spiced Marmalade inks with some flicking and swiping going on! Then I stamped the sentiment which is from the  Indigo Blu 'Enjoy Life' set. The bottle of wine and glass from Stamps Happen Inc. I forgot I had, but was having a tidy up and there it was. I have just invested in a set of alcohol markers and so I stamped it on acetate and had fun colouring it in  with my new pens, they work really well. Being on a roll with little roses from Tim's April Tag I coloured some Buckram with the same markers (I have Spectrum Noir) and then rolled them up, I thought they looked quite real being fabric. The spare piece of tag I layered with a piece of tissue tape and a Tim bird stamp from one of his older sets stamped in Archival Potting Soil. The markers coloured the ribbons that I used at the top of the tag and the hinges so easily.

I hope you all have a wonderful sunny week full of these lovely colours! Thank you so much for looking and for your lovely comments, I so enjoy reading them. Be back soon. X

 

Sunday Stampers: Nature.

Hi everyone. I have been very busy this week and so I am entering a double page of my sketch book for Hels challenge this week, as I have not developed the ideas into a finished piece yet. I have also been very very lucky and have won her fabulous give-away of absolutely tons of goodies (see here) which are arriving very soon. I will take lots of pix to show you when they come and am very delighted and grateful, I've never won such a big prize before! Also crafters are such lovely people as you left some lovely comments on Hels blog wishing me joy, thank you everso much!

Back to the challenge. I have recently got my mits on Tim's butterfly die and I must admit I saw an idea of them coming out of a bottle on line, but I can't find it again. If you are the person, great idea, I hope you don't mind that I have adapted it. I thought I would have the butterflies changing into colour as they emerge into the light. I love the sentiment from Stampotique but it wasn't big enough when I stamped it, so I did it again with my alphabet stamps. The background is Dylusion spray inks, the Mason jar is from crescendoH stamps cut from a piece of acrylic packing and if you look closely you may see two of Tim's stencils and a die cut flower head giving texture.

 



I have a feeling I may work on this as a piece of embroidery or a small wall quilt, I am trying to develop the idea of my own designs, a work in progress as they say!

The other page is a little different for me. I don't usually do these type of images, but purchased the Gorjuss image and have had a go with my new set of alcohol markers at shading her in. Then I put her against a Hero Art stamp of corn with two more die cut flower heads and some butterflies, then cut some purple grass from handmade paper.

 

Here is another photo of the double page.

 

It has been my resolution to use my sketch books more. I love how the Dylusion ink looks so vibrant. I think either has the potential for a card or a small quilt do you?

Thanks for peeping, nearly the end of the week! Where is the time going? x

Tim's tag for April

This is a most beautiful tag and my favourite of Tim's thus far this year! It has also taught me a valuable lesson which I shall share with you! I have always struggled fiddling with those little roses from the pine cone die, in fact I have always struggled with the pine cone! I would watch the video and would hot foot up to the craft room and then do my best to emulate the Master. This time I took my lap top up to the craft room and followed him step by step which is what I should have done in the first place! I was not creasing down the little petal parts and as Tim says that really helps to form the shape. Smacked wrists Barbara, pay attention and do as the expert says!



So here it is, as faithful a copy as I can manage and I am now on a roll with the little roses. You can find Tim's stunning original here - thanks Tim, I love this one! x

A Vintage Journey - A Little Bit French!

Continuing with the Vintage Journey challenge which you can find if you press the link, the theme this week is 'A Little Bit French' and my word I didn't realise how many French stamps etc come from the Master of all things Inky - Tim Holtz! I was spoilt for choice and in the end decided to shabby chic a Charity shop frame I found.

Then I took a canvas board and proceeded to 'Timinise' it!

 

The background stamps are all stamped in Potting Soil Archival then then distressed with Frayed Burlap DI with the exception of the Metro and black cat stamp. Then I painted and distressed a piece of french script paper from one of Tim's collections and ran the French embossing folder through the old Vagabond and then inked over with Walnut Stain and Frayed Burlap DI. Then I die cut and seperately embossed the fleur-de-lys and inked them with Walnut stain and then gold Viva paste and layered them up with several layers on sticky fixers. The Moulin Rouge Can-Can dancers and elegant Parisian lady were in my stash and I made up some tickets to pop in the side of the main frame. The edge was made from Tissue tape with suitable French words on and then I painted and distressed the frame with white acrylic paint.

Do pop over and have a go if you aren't participating already, it's great fun and is sponsored by Country View Crafts, so one lucky person will win a voucher to spend in their fab shop. The design members have come up with some great French inspired art, do have a peep.

Thanks for looking, be back soon. x