Live Life To The Max

The Stampsmith do this wonderful A4 UM sheet of words and phrases Say It With Flair. The words and phrases vary in size which is so clever as you have more scope for the type of projects you can use them on. With this sheet you will literally never be stuck for words.

Some of the words marry up beautifully and the idea popped into my head of making ear-rings.  Not sure if this is the smallest size of Stampbord available, 1″x1″ but I have to say that even with the addition of beads the ear-rings are very light.

Before stamping the words I sponged inks on the Stampbord then heat set. Personally, I am not a huge fan of the scratch tools but as I wanted a contemporary look I opted for some scratching.  The border is a clear stamp from LLB Venaissance Clear Stamp Set.

Such jewellery would make a thoughtful gift for a friend and the ear-rings could be tailor made with words of encouragement suitable for the recipient.

Au Revoir

Ali at Gingersnap Creations asked for me to create one final piece of artwork by way of closing my term as March Muse. My words of farewell are on their site as are instructions for this mixed media piece.

Lying out on my work surface was The Stampsmith Au Revoir (from Paris plate) which was so perfect. I married this up with one of their Flappers. It has to be said that The Stampsmith have some amazing Flapper stamps.

It was exceptionally tricky to photograph as I wanted to retain the sense of transparency. Eventually I used Blue Tac to stick to the glass panel on a door – not ideal!

March has been an exceptionally busy month with many posts so thank you all for taking the time to pop over and always leave such amazing comments. I am very lucky indeed.

Time To Move Forward

Today in the U.K. it’s the start of British Summertime and the clocks move forward. This inspired me to alter one of the children’s building blocks (The Altered Element Upcycle Challenge) with a time theme.

My starting point was to prep the cube by sanding and then a layer of Gesso. Then Lumiere Metallic Rust and Golden Glass Bead Gel.

For “T” I stamped Temptress onto a glass circle, dripped Alcohol Inks on the rear and adhered the image to a piece of cardstock sprayed with Adirondack Colourwash spray. German Scrap, dressmakers snaps and watch parts (dismantled a watch myself) were coloured with Alcohol Inks.

Again you can see repeats of the snaps and German Scrap. I noticed, after colouring German Scrap with caramel and terracotta Alcohol Inks, turn over and it gives a rusty look – perfect.

“M” is Temptress stamped in the same manner as for “T”. This time I distorted her image slightly by smudging. This was in homage to Dali and his melting clocks!

I smudged Alcohol Ink onto the watch face and added pieces of mica.

This is the view looking down. By using silicone glue it enabled me to build layers and have pieces suspended.

Supplies

Children’s Building Block

Adirondack Colourwash Sprays – Espresso and Butterscotch

Alcohol Inks – Caramel, Espresso and Terracotta

Golden Glass Bead Gel

Gold marker pen

Vintage key

Watch (dismantle or purchase watch parts)

Mica

Gesso

Lumiere Metallic Rust

Epoxy alphabet stickers

2 glass circles

Dressmakers Snaps

German Scrap

“Temptress” Stampington & co

Staz-on Timber Brown

Glues – silicone glue, UHU.

Two more altered blocks will follow over the coming weeks.

Bird Brain

There was great excitement and anticipation on opening the first DT package to arrive from The Altered Element.  For the Upcycle Challenge Lynne supplied me with 6 children’s building blocks. My eyes zoomed into FLY and so Bird Brain was born. Also hidden in the package were 3 Adirondack Colourwashes. As I knew that I had to supply Bird Brain with a dress I was able to incorporate the Colourwashes into the Upcycle project.

I now introduce you to Bird Brain

 

Supplies –

Character Construction – French Laundry

Butterscotch Adirondack Colourwash

Watercolour paper

Archival Sepia Ink (Ranger)

Koh-I-Noor Watercolour Pencils

Feathers, Gauze Squares, artificial ivy leaf, 3 children’s building blocks.

Instructions

Stamp top part of female onto watercolour paper with Sepia ink. You need to do this twice. Colour with watercolour pencils. Cut around image and leave a tab. Build the blocks to spell “FLY”, glue together. Adhere the two images together (creates more solid structure). Bend tab and glue onto block. Spray Butterscotch onto craft mat. I diluted with water to create yellow. Soak up solution with gauze swabs (I used 3). Drape to create a dress.  Add smallest feather to her head, two feathers to create wings and feathers randomly scattered in her dress. Stamp and cut out little bird image and glue one in her hand, one on her head and randomly in her dress.  Add decorative ivy leaf to her waist.

She is now ready to go to any Woodland Ball.

Over the next few weeks there will be some more upcycle projects using the remaining 3 blocks and projects using the Adirondack Colourwash sprays.

I Never Promised You A Rose Garden

The end of March is nearly upon us and for me that means my term as March Muse over at Gingersnap Creations is nearing to an end. It was such an honour to be their first ever Muse and a wonderful opportunity for me. Thank you to Ali and Shar for allowing me to have such fun.

Over at Gingersnap Creations their Random Redhead Challenge is the theme of Growth. Immediately I knew I would use Sweet Briar, a stunningly beautiful stamp by Lynne Perrella. Sweet Briar is stamped onto a 2″x2″ piece of Stampbord which I inked with Tattered Rose, Shabby Shutters and a touch of Tea Dye before stamping her.

By chance as I was digging out the Stampbord this silk rose fell out of the storage box. Perfect! As it is a hair accessory I was able to bend the clips and hang from the hole at the bottom of the Stampbord.

Here is a close up –

As I made this pendant the song “I Never Promised You A Rose Garden” popped into my head. As a child I remember my mother had this single. Obviously I had to use it as the title for this piece of jewellery.

Pinch An Inch!

At KCUK I signed up for the Corset Mingle where I was assigned to make a corset card/tag for  the lovely Jack .

This was so much fun to make.

Some recycled curtain lining was sponged with Distress Inks in Tattered Rose and Tea Dye then sewing images stamped with the same inks.  The tags were made in the same manner. One of the trickiest parts was forming pleats in the measuring tape which was refusing to co-operate and not stay in place.

A little pouch was fashioned with the same material. Simply folded the fabric over and stitched up the two sides. A length of  measuring tape with a piece of velcro created a closure.

Love’s Young Dream

This is a special posting as today is my parents’ Wedding Anniversary – 52 years they have been married. So I could be cheeky and call this Love’s Not So Young Dream (am I in trouble yet?!). 

When I saw this stamp, “Classic Couple”  from The Stampsmith I had my parents in mind.

The stamp has such an innocent quality to it so I deliberately kept embellishments to a minimum, adding only a gingham bow.

Happy Anniversary Mum and Dad!

Springtime Frolic

This hanging is my second piece of artwork created for Gingersnap Creations for the March Muse.

As much as I like to use stretch canvas I would say I prefer artist sheet canvas as it allows more freedom – I am able to cut a required size, stitch onto it, distress it with ease, etc.

If you click the above link to Gingersnap Creations you can see the step by steps for this project.

The Rusty Key To Her Heart

At Gingersnap Creations this Wednesday, their Colour Challenge is Rust/Copper/Ginger.

 

You will recognise the large key as a Grungeboard piece which I painted with Lumiere Metallic Rust then hammered into it with my Tim Holtz hammer and ordinary sandpaper to distress further.

A mixture of stamped and found elements are attached to the large key. The tiny little key is vintage and belongs beside the other keys you see peeking into the top photograph.

My Sweet Rose

When in my late teens I owned a print of My Sweet Rose (The Soul of A Rose) by John William Waterhouse which I’d bought in Athena, I never would have believed that in 2010 I would be making a card using a stamp of this famous painting and posting it on my Blog.

This birthday card is for my neighbour, Millie, who will be 90 this week.