Monday 30 July 2012

Gessoing with Alcohol Inks-Technique by Jennie

Hello, and welcome to another one of my technique based posts for The Creative Team.As you may have gathered , I am truly hooked on using Gesso on everything I make at he moment ( check out our new challenge next month too!!) , and when I came across this video using Gesso AND Alcohol inks, I just had to show you!
All the ingredients are at the bottom in appropriate links :))
I used one of Tim's new Embossing folders , and layered sticky back foil onto some card and ran it through my Vagabond.




I painted the metal side with white gesso, just thickly enough to cover the metal colour, and let it dry.


Then taking 3 or 4 or even 5 colours of alcohol inks,  drip them gently onto the embossed gessoed card, and move them around with a cocktail stick, or similar until you get the desired effect. Remember alcohol inks dry quickly, so you need to work quite fast.



Once you have achieved your desired effect, dry with a heat tool. You can leave it like this or add some Archival ink on top to add depth. You can then sand it back a little if you like, and add more ink on top too.


I liked this technique as the Gesso will make the inks matte and not translucent if they were just on the metal alone(if that makes sense?)


I do hope you like my little technique of the month, and don't forget to tune in on Wednesday for some exciting news!
Have a creative day

Jennie

Saturday 28 July 2012

Girl With A Clock, Chunky ATC by Carol Fox

Hello, Carol here, with my last post as Guest for this month. For my last project I have altered a Wooden ATC Block. The lovely man who owns our local wood yard cuts these for me, and I really love working on them as they are a nice size.

I first gave the block a coat of Gesso and then coloured it with Viva Decor, Inka Gold in Steel Blue, I then used Lava green through the Crafters Workshop mini Gears template.

Using Ranger Black Archival ink I stamped the Dots background randomly onto the block, once it was dry I added thin lines in a sunray pattern using the same ink and a credit card. ( I have found the ranger ink works best over the viva as it stays nice and black, some inks seem to sink in and loose the blackness). To finish I used a Black Acrylic Dabber on the edges.
I have used the Girl With Clock stamp as the main focal point, adding the large butterfly wings from Butterfly Collections to the image. Colouring this in and adding some stickles to the wings for a bit of shimmer.
For the flowers I coloured a piece of card with the same Inka Paints and then stamped the small flower from the Tick Tock Flowers Plate, I then cut it out and stamped again on the back so the image is double sided. I then made these up into the flower shapes. Finishing with a spritz of Turquoise Perfect pearls mist and some Distress Stickles.
I attached everything to the block with Glossy Accents, running a line along the bottom of the block and random dots to the flowers, then adding small seed beads to the wet accents.

I have enjoyed my stay here and I wish to thank Jennie and Emma for all their support through the month and to everyone who has read my posts, I hope you have enjoyed them, and I have enjoyed reading all your comments.

Thank You, Carol

Friday 27 July 2012

Good for one pair of shoes

Hello everyone, Astrid here with another project.

This time round I decided to make a simple quick project that could be suitable for men, because I needed something for my son..... I made a little gift card holder with a gift card inside.

Now this project has a story connected with it. You see, my son is a keen bird watcher but while tramping through the country side he is forever wearing out his shoes but won't spend the money to buy new ones, so I decided to make him this gift card




This is how I went about it:
Products used: Manilla Tag, Distress Inks, Distress Markers and Archival Ink I also used the following stamp sets:
I started by colouring my tag with a mixture of Wild Honey, Bundled Sage and Tea Die Distress inks. I scored it at 6 and 12 cm so it would fold into a little pouch and stamped the script stamp in Cobalt Archival ink all over it.


Next I stamped the bunting and sneakers in black archival on white card, coloured them a bit with vintage photo and Pine Needle distress inks and marker and glued them on as shown. I also punched out a half circle to make it easier to get the card out.
I stuck the sides together with a thin strip of double sided tape,so that it became like a small pouch

Now for the actual gift card. I computer generated the words "good for one pair of shoes" and printed it onto some card which I then cut to the size so it would fit into the pouch. I rounded the corners and stamped the stipple background in tea Die distress inks and then blended some more tea die ink around the text. On the back of the card I stamped the music background in tea Die. I then stamped the bird stamp in Black Archival again onto card, cut it out and coloured with some distress markers. I glued it on and added a bit of shadow with a charcoal pencil. Inside the flap I still stamped the sentiment from the Birds of a Feather set.

The final step was to add some string to tie it shut, and voila, gift card ready...

Tuesday 24 July 2012

Beach worn box by Zuzu


I altered this wee wooden box to make it look all beach worn. A bit like drift wood thats not been out long enough to loose all its colour. To get this look, I gave the box a coat of gesso, then white acrylic. Before adding the final coat of blue acrylic, I smeared some Vasaline (petroleum jelly) along the edges and in some random places on the surfaces. Then I put on my final coat of paint. once it was dry I used a soft cloth to remove the Vasaline and it took the paint with it, leaving a nice view of the white underneath to give it a bit more of a distressed look and also to smooth it down for stamping, i took sandpaper to it. You can sand it back as much or as little as you like.

I stamped on the box using some seaside stamps, with black stazon ink and used a white highlighter to draw on some accents. I realised that the fish lost his tail as it hung over the edge so i stamped him out again on to tissue paper and coloured him in so he matched the box, so i could glue him on and fold his tail around the edges.




Supplies List:

Stamps used from "Seaside No1" HERE
small wooden box HERE
Studio Gesso, Studio paint (blanc Canvas) and Studio Paint (Sky blue)  HERE
Jet Black Stazon Ink HERE



Sunday 22 July 2012

Canvas by Titbelsoeur

Salut tout le monde !

This is always a great pleasure to post here, and it was also a great pleasure to have my brain upside down to find the right piece of art to show to you ! (not sure this is clear for you... already not fully clear for me... anyway...)
This is a canvas I have partly covered with gesso and painted with acrylics. Then I have used my favorite stencils and stamps. The face is a personal (and unique ;-) creation, drawn on a book page and painted with watercolors. The statue was stamped upon kaft paper (recycled from my last purchase), and the key, buttons and rings come from my personal collection, of course!
Supplies :
 
Stamps :

Thanks for stopping by, I hope you like my canvas,
 I am looking forward to reading your comments ! 
A tout bientôt !
Titbelsoeur

Friday 20 July 2012

It's Only A Dream... by Emma

Hi everyone!! It's time for me to share my final piece of July with you all and for this post, I chose to get really inky and create this Mabel Lucie Attwell card.
To begin with I took a piece of plain cream card and blended Antique Linen DI all over it. I then randomly sprayed an area of the card with the Dylusions spray and dried it with a heat gun. I then inked up the Calligraphic Mat 12 with black Archival Ink and stamped directly onto the inked cardstock. Next, I took some Vintage Photo DI and blended the edges of the card for an aged look, before applying some more Vintage Photo DI through a stencil. I then applied some of the Snow Cap Adirondack paint through the same stencil and finally, used one of the border stamps to complete my background.
I stamped the Mad Hatter's Tea Party outline onto watercolour card and then using the Distress Marker Pens, I scribbled some ink onto my craft mat and with a waterbrush, handpainted the image. When the inks were dry, I blended the background with DI's and added the completed artwork to a matt of black card and adhered it onto my background. 

I then made a tag from some more of the cream card, blended with Antique Linen DI and then stamped "dream" onto the tag and added some Chit Chat stickers and computer generated wording, to create my quote. I matted the tag onto black card and added some seam binding dyed with Crushed Olive Distress Stain before attaching this to the card.
Finally, I stamped two of the small butterflies from the "Tick Tock" stamp plate onto Grungepaper and coloured them with Wild Honey Distress Stain, before carefully cutting them out and attaching them to the card front.

Products I used:

So, that's about it from me for today...I can't wait to read your comments and I hope you like my vintage Mabel Lucie Attwell piece!!

Hope you all have a creative day and see you very soon!
Emma xx

Thursday 19 July 2012

Time Travel Tag by Alison

Hello Stampers! Today I have a bright tag to share with you.


To make my background, I spritzed Pure Sunshine, Squeezed Orange, & Bubblegum Pink Dylusion Ink Sprays onto my craft sheet. I laid a manilla tag in the ink, dried it with a heat tool, then repeated this process, dipping the tag in the ink then drying, until I had the desired effect.

I stamped Calligraphic Mat No.9, using frayed burlap Distress Ink, then stamped the large & small corners from Architecture Plates 1 & 3, in the corners, using coffee Archival ink. I inked the edges of the tag with the coffee Archival

I stamped the window from Architecture 3 onto book paper, using coffee Archival ink, then tore around the image. I inked it with vintage photo Distress ink, then glued it to my tag.

Next, I stamped the Journaling Mini Words onto cream paper, cut out the required words for the phrase, inked the edges, & attached them to my tag. I sprayed the Squeezed Orange ink into the air above the tag, to let a subtle colour fall onto the words & image.

To finish, I coloured some blush sari ribbon with the Dylusion inks, tied one piece through the top, & layered a piece with some cream lace at the bottom, then attached a tiny gold key charm with a jump ring.

Thanks for looking,
Alison xox

Tuesday 17 July 2012

Retro notebook. By Zuzu.


Last week, I was inspired by this months challenge them of "circles", and had a wee go at making some circle tags. They turned out better than I expected and I rather loved them. I even put them on my blog.(here they are in case you missed them)...


Inspired by this retro look, I wanted to make something a bit more permanent or useful that i could keep, (as once I use the tags as gift tags, they are gone,)  so I altered the front of one of the little notebooks.


I used an outdoor sealer over it all so it would stand up to going out and about in my bag, as, with this weather we have been having, nothing stays dry for long.


For the largest circles, I cut out some paper circles and used them as a mask when adding all the layers of stamps, paint and ink, to my notebook. when i was done with the other layers, I painted my large circles with white paint. let it dry then did a little 'over stamping'.
as a finishing touch, I added some "chit chat" stickers.

Supplies used:

Stamps
Large sequin waste HERE
The retro looking border , the splat, the large dots and the grunge circles can all be found HERE


Other supplies

Notebook HERE
paint dabber (snow cap) HERE
Chit Chat stickers HERE

Monday 16 July 2012

Moth to a Flame by Sioux Jenneys

Hiya folks! I seem to be into tags at the minute so here is another one to share:)




1. I used Distress Inks in wild honey, rusty hinge and spice marmalade to colour the background before masking off the flame area with a movers and shapers leaf die cut and stamping the marbled background in Distress Ink weathered wood.




2. Used the scrabble tiles and the journaling mini words layered onto black card to make up the sentiments.


3. I decided to break open my speciality stamping paper from Ranger that I have had for a few weeks and try it out! So I stamped the moth from Insects and Butterflies 1 in Archival black twice and coloured it with Distress Markers......ooh! I do like the smooth feel to it and the way the colours go on ;)


I then cut out one whole moth and just the top wing section as an added layer.




4. Stamped the word desire from the Nudes plate at the side and attached a movers and shapers leaf that had been colourised as the flame.

5. Stamped the crown from Crowning Glory in Adirondack pigment watermelon at the bottom and tattered the edges of the tag before fixing the moth in position with silicone glue using some wire for the feelers.




I'll give you "Fifty" ;) guesses as to what inspired me to make that tag :)


See you again soon!
xoxo Sioux

Saturday 14 July 2012

Fantastic Flappers by Carol Fox

This is my 2nd piece for the blog this month, So hello again. As soon as I saw this set of 20's stamps in the shop this project came to mind so I dug out this old fan from my big box of "stuff", took me ages to find it, but I knew it was there somewhere. It turned out a bit brighter than I anticipated, but that's they way it goes sometimes, you cant really plan your crafting, as it all quite often just happens along the way.
The fan is silk so it took all the paints and inks really well. I started by giving it a coat of white gesso because as you can see from the photo it was bright green.
I then mixed up Claudine Hellmuth paint in Painterly Pink and Traditional Tan to give me a dusky pink shade ( I know it still looks white, but trust me its' pink lol )
The using Coffee Archival ink I stamped the text stamp  Calligraphy Mat 13 randomly over it, using the stamp directly on my hand as a block was to ridged for the fan.
Once dry I splodged some gesso on my craft mat and using the Dots background stamp I stamped the gesso directly onto the fan. I let this dry thoroughly.
I Squirted some dylusions ink onto my mat, added a bit of water to soften the colour a bit, and then using a paint brush I quickly gave the fan a quick coat, before it was dry I spritzed it really well with some more water and held it up to drip  onto my mat so the colour was even paler and more patchy. Once this was dry I gave it all a coat of Matte finish Glue N' Seal.
I stamped the main images using black Archival ink, and then using the same Dots background stamp as before and black ink I filled in any gaps. I added beaded trim to the bottom and it makes a great noise as you flick the fan. I dragged a black Dabber along the top edge to define it a bit. To finish I gave it a spray with Perfect pearls in Heirloom gold.

I hope you enjoyed my fan and I look forward to reading your comments. I shall be back on the 28th with my last project as the Guest this month.
Carol x

Friday 13 July 2012

Altered Canvas by Astrid

Hi everyone, Astrid here with another project. I decided to alter a little canvas and set myself the challenge for once not to use any brown. I tell you this was hard, as brown is my favourite colour in crafting and I use it on all of my projects usually....
These are the products I used:
STAMPS: Swirls, Splats & Dots A5 plate; Architecture 1 A4 plate; Journaling Words II
OTHER PRODUCTS: Gesso; Multi Medium Matte; Black Archival Ink, Distress Inks Shabby Shutters, Broken China, Tumbled Glass, Broken China, Pine Needle
Denim Paintdabber, Viva Terra Sahara and Inka gold, Crafters Workshop Mini Harlequin stencil
From my stash I used a small canvas, old book pages, mica sprays, white tissue paper, punchinella, , a small piece of chipboard, a swirl die-cut, some mini roses, gold acrylic paint,string and pearls.
I started by covering my canvas with some old bookpages, gluing them on with Claudine Hellmuth multi medium matte. .
Next I swiped some watery Gesso all over it to blend it all together a bit and stamped some of the swirls and splats in random places
I sprayed some mica sprays in various light blue and green shades and added further colour with distress inks in Shabby Shutters, Broken China and Tumbled Glass. I stamped the  gothic window from the Archtecture plate in Black Archival ink onto copy paper, cut it out and also collaged it onto the canvas, for some more texture I added some crumpled tissue paper and then swiped more of my inks over it and also some Viva gold. I wanted to highlight the texture with that and also make it appear as if light was falling onto the window.
Next I cut a small piece of chipboard, covered it with Viva Ferro, wetted the Create stamp from the journaling words and pressed it into the Ferro.
Now, for the most difficult part: waiting until the Ferro would dry. As on this occasion I did not want it to bubble, so I did not use my heat gun and just had to be patient. While waiting I got my other embellishments ready. I stamped one of the elements from the Archtecture plate onto white card stock in black Archival, cut it out and coloured it with Chipped Sappphire Distress ink. I cut a swirl out of vanilla card stock and coloured it green with Pine Needle Distress Ink. I glued it along the frame of the gothic window and then added some little burgundy roses that I had high lighted a bit with the Viva gold.
When the Ferro was dry I coloured it with a Denim Blue dabber and highlighted the letters with some gold acrylic paint from my stash

Finally I put it all together by adding some string, the architecture element (to which I added 3 gold pearls, and the little Create panel over the string.
Well, I hope you like it and I will see you next time.