Dimensional ATC

The challenge for Grungy Monday with Linda this week is A NEW DIMENSION, and again its taken me until Friday to finally get around to completing something for the challenge. Pop over to Tim's blog HERE to see the great dimensional technique we are following this week.

I decided on an ATC this time around, I cannot believe I have never actually made an ATC.  I have used Tim's ATC and Corners die decorated with Collections Elements papers.

I chose a heart shape for my dimensional piece as I love hearts and I have added a crown to the centre. The butterflies are from Tim's Papillon set as is the stamped background.

I'm loving creating these lace flowers so again added one to my creation.  The butterfly has a pen nib added to its body, another piece from Tim's Idea-Ology.

To complete I have added buttons to the bottom of my ATC.  I am also entering this as my second piece for the Simon Says Stamp and Show some BUTTONS challenge.  Enjoy the extended holiday weekend, Tracy x x

Winged Heart

I am still spring cleaning my house and along the way I found a wooden heart, broken in a few places but ideal for altering and that is where my next piece began.

I am entering this for the Simon Says Stamp and Show challenge which this week is to show BUTTONS in you artwork and The Sunday Stamper with the theme of WINGS this time around. I sanded the heart within an inch of its life and then painted with two coats of black acrylic paint. This piece also fits in for the challenge over at Happy Daze where the theme is SOMETHING WOODEN and The Artistic Stamper, the theme being LAYERS.

My flower is created using lace and adds great dimension and texture.  The dress form is from Tim's Sewing Room die.

The dress form is decorated with Collections Elements designer papers.  The wings are from Tim's Heart Wings die and again decorated with the same designer paper and I have also added small wing charms.  Lace has been added to the dress form along with a small metal flower from Prima.

The flower at the top has been created from string with added button to the centre.

Metal rusty hearts have been added to the heart, again another find during my spring clean.  Another project that took quite a while to complete but I must admit I really am enjoying the sewing themes at the moment.  This heart now matches my Sewing Room project and will remain in my craft room along side my first project.  I am planning on creating an ATC next in the same theme.  Enjoy your Wednesday, Tracy x x

Felted Florals

I have been spring cleaning for the past week but really needed a break for a little creativity so I created a card for The Play Date Cafe challenge.

I decided to create some felted flowers using a basic circular shape.

The colour story this week at The Play Date Cafe is inspired by Cath Kidston, chosen by Julie Ranae, great colour combination but not one that I can say I use very often, probably as I am more of an earthy tone kinda gal.

Felted flowers add so much dimension and texture to a card, I love them especially when accompanied with machine stitching.

I have stamped my leaf onto a gardening book page.  A simple card to make but so therapeutic. Right back to the spring cleaning and a little gardening after my quick fix of crafting.  Enjoy what is left of your Easter break, Tracy x x

Sewing Room

My next piece has taken me 2 full days to complete, I can't believe it but it has been an enjoyable process.  I am entering this piece for:-
Simon Says Stamp and Show - A Tim Holtz Technique.
Grungy Monday -Texture Fades and Distress.
The Sunday Stamper - Use products we LOVE, techniques we LOVE and designers we LOVE.
The Stampman Challenge - Embossing.

I decided I would create a SEWING ROOM within my house using many of Tim Holtz techniques and an array of embellishments and stamping.

I cut the dress form from Grungepaper using Tim's Sewing Room die and added the SHABBY CHIC technique along with a hand made flower from lace and button embellishments including a glass pin which I saved from a bunch of flowers I received on Mother's day.  I have added wings from the Heart Wings Die which have been embossed with Tim's Pattern and Stitches texture fade and coloured with Distress Ink.

For the attic of my house I decorated some antique spools which I found on ebay, decorated them with lace, thread and papers and again I have added another of those glass pins along with some buttons.  "secret room" are some magnets I found in my room of stash.

At the back of this section I have added the spool and button from the Sewing Room die which have had the INKING GRUNGE technique applied. The wooden dress form is from Kaisercraft.

More sections with added embellishments and "LIFE" has had the ALTERED METAL WITH PAINT technique applied again from Tim's Compendium of Curiosities book.

Spool decorated with lace and trinket pin along with buttons and hangers from Tim's Idea-Ology.  I also found some fab pegs in my stash this one is decorated with a heart.

SeW was created using Tim's Grunge Blocks, I love these and I have added a pen nib to one corner.  You can also just see one of Tim's Fractured Dolls in the bottom right hand corner.

I have also added a circular fragment which you can see just towards the left of the picture using the FRAGMENTS BASICS technique from Tim's book.

 

A small dress from with silver wing charms has also been added to the side again decorated using Tim's texture fades and distress.

I have used many of Tim's techniques for Simon Says Stamp and Show challenge, texture fades and distress for Grungy Monday, everything I LOVE for The Sunday Stamper, clear embossing and embossing folders for The Stampman challenge.  I think after all the effort I am going to keep this piece for myself to decorate my craft room.  Thanks for stopping by, Tracy x x

Mermaids

I can't remember the last time I managed two posts in one day, rather pleased with myself LOL.  I am joining in with the Stampotique challenge and this time around we are challenged to use NEWSPRINT/OLD BOOK PAGES in our artwork. I love using old book pages in artwork so this challenge was a must for me.

I have created an accordion card using watercolour card which I have sprayed with Adirondack Color Wash in denim. I added a few splats of water here and there to add to that underwater kinda theme. I have used Octopet, torn book pages and Jo's Flower Cube for this side, oh and a fabulous fish embellishment, I do love my embellishments.

I have used a white gel pen to add white dots and OCTOPUS around the body of the octopus.

CURIOSITIES was stamped with archival ink and OCTOPUS was computer generated.

On the reverse I have used the Stampotique Mermaids Smumanha and Smushallaum. Both have been stamped onto old book pages and cut out.  I have also punched out several circles from old book pages, one even has the word curious on one of the small circles, these are the little touches I just love.

I have added the word MERMAID in archival ink and added highlights with white gel pen. Jo's flowers have been stamped in white acrylic paint.

I have added circles with white acrylic paint and dots using a white gel pen. I am also submitting this piece for The Sunday Stamper challenge where Hels is celebrating her 1000th blog post and 150th week of The Sunday Stamper and in honour we are challenged to CREATE using the products we love, the techniques we love and designers we love.  Hels also has some fabulous blog candy on offer.  I am going to try and create a second piece for this challenge that is Tim related but I thought I would do something a little different for my first piece.  Why two pieces, well I could not fit everything into one piece and I admire so many designers so I thought I would highlight a couple LOL.  This piece hopefully shows my LOVE of challenging myself to do something a little different from the norm; I LOVE embellishments which you will already know if you follow my blog; I love unusual, quirky images and the Mermaids and Octopet from Stampotique are definitely that; I LOVE the designers from Stampotique and admire their artwork and LOVE to use it in my creations and finally I LOVE to get inky and messy and if you could see my blue fingers now!!!!!!

Thank you for stopping by and leaving a comment, much appreciated.  Take care, Tracy x x

Felting Workshop

I took some time out from gardening and the allotment on Saturday and attended Sarah Anderson's felting workshop at The Cubby Hole.

We began with some wet felting, the samples of which you can see on the left hand side and the bar of soap we covered at the top, I have to say this was great fun and for once my hands were extremely clean, which is very unusual for a Sarah workshop LOL. I will use these in some artwork in the future. I created the owl using Sarah's embellisher machine, well that was a BIG mistake as I was hooked within 5 minutes and it took me all of half an hour to order one when I arrived home; this hobby of mine is becoming very expensive.

The two circles and small heart were needle felted, something I am really enjoying at the moment, it's so therapeutic, well apart from when you stab yourself with the needle LOL.  The large heart was created on the embellisher machine.

A close up of the large heart, I just love the texture on this piece and the combination of colours, I may add a few more beads and embellishments to this at some point.

The small heart which I needle felted, I love the earthy tones on this piece and all the loose fibres, shame you cannot have touch sensors on your screen as this piece is very tactile and so much texture.

I will use these two circles as flowers on a project sometime in the future.  I had a great time at the workshop, thanks Sarah.  Enjoy your week, Tracy x x

Papillon

It's one of my favourite colour combinations over at The Play Date Cafe so I could not wait to CREATE.

At the same time I am also enjoying using the new PAPILLON set from Tim Holtz, the background is fabulous on this set and works wonderfully with the butterflies/moths.

I wanted to use a completely different colour scheme from my last creation with this set so I chose to use the Distress Stains in peeled paint with highlights of vintage photo. I applied my Distress Stains to a piece of watercolour card which I then used for all my stamped pieces.

The flower in the bottom corner is simply created from a scrap of white material which I have lightly coloured with peeled paint Distress Stain and added a co-ordinated button to the centre.  Must admit I am really pleased with this simple flower. The heart at the back of my flower is the mini hearts Movers and Shapers die.

All my images have been embossed with Detail White embossing powder, which really makes the images pop from the page.  The butterfly at the bottom of the page has been stamped twice and a second layer added to give a 3D like appearance.  Two of my butterflies have Trinket Pins for their bodies and the two smaller butterflies/moths have Snaps added to their bodies.

Once again I have added Memo Pins which enclose numbers from Tim's Lost and Found Paper Stash. All my images have been layered onto co-ordinated Bazzil card and the edges of the card have been sponged with peeled paint Distress Ink.

I am also adding this to The Stampman Challenge which this time around is Embossing.

All the products are available from The Stamp Attic. Thanks for stopping by and leaving a comment, much appreciated.  Have a fabulous weekend, Tracy x x

Take Flight

The Sunday Stamper - BLUE
The Stampman Challenge -EMBOSSING
Simon Says Stamp and Show - SOME DISTRESSING
Grungy Monday -EXPLORING TIM HOLTS ADIRONDACK COLOR WASH

I've been using Tim's new Papillon set this week.  My background has been coloured with Adirondack Denim Color Wash adding a little water to lighten the colour.  I have also distressed all the edges and sanded some areas of the colour to add to the distressed look.

I have embossed all my images with white embossing powder and machine stitched the layers into place. One of my butterflies has a Trinket Pin for his body.

My flower is created from the Tattered Florals die, again coloured with Adirondack Denim Color Wash and all the edges distressed. All my images have been layered onto coordinated Bazzil card stock.

To complete, I have added wings from Tim's Idea-Ology Adornments pack along with Memo Pins having numbers added from the Lost and Found Paper Stash.  Take Flight (from the PaperArtsy Hot Picks Birds) has also been embossed in white and added just below the wings. I have sanded all my metal pieces to add to that distressed feel.  All the products used in this piece are available from The Stamp Attic.

Thanks for stopping by, enjoy your week, Tracy x x

WOYWW.......

.....otherwise known as What's On Your Workdesk Wednesday, the brainchild of Julia, all the details of which you will find HERE, oh and some great desks to nose around.

My craft room has been driving me mad lately, too much clutter everywhere so I have had a little reorganisation.  Thrown a few baskets that were gathering dust and bits and pieces that were never used.  I also had a lovely day out on Monday and purchased the draws on the right hand side of my desk, the ones you can see in this picture.  Thought I could make better use of these than lots of baskets lying around everywhere.  This side of my craft room is now looking much more organised, just the way I like it.

Moving further towards the left of my desk, also looking much more organised, just a few little bits and bobs to find a new home for. Not much craft on my desk but that is due to the fact I have been spending a great deal of my time in the garden, tidying as much as I can and the pictures below show the results of my hard work.

The weather has been lovely over the weekend so I spent most of the time clearing and sorting this border.

The lawn is looking a little tired at the moment as we have spent the weekend scarifying, removing all the moss and re seeding so it should look wonderfully green in a few weeks, well that's the plan anyway.  Thanks for stopping by, enjoy your week, Tracy x x

Take Flight

Simon Says Stamp and Show - Anything but a card.
The Sunday Stamper - Gold.
Grungy Monday -Distress ink with Studio Multi Medium.
The Artistic Stamper Creative Team - Layers.
The Stampman Challenge - Embossing

My piece started with a bird cage from Maya Road which I covered with Tim Holtz Vintage Shabby Paper Stash and all the edges were sanded to add to the worn look.  I began using the technique from Grungy Monday this week where Linda has challenged us to visit Ranger and use Distress Ink with Studio Multi Medium, a really fun technique.  I used Claudine Hellmuth's foam flower stamp in the background which worked wonderfully for this technique. Check out the link on Linda's site using the link above it's a fun technique to try and very effective.

Simon Says show anything but a card so my bird cage is definitely not a card and The Sunday Stamper challenge is to use gold in your artwork.  My heart and wings have been edged in gold dabber and all my charms, the cage, little bird and crown are all gold LOL, I'm on a roll here!!!

This picture gives you a closer view of the technique used on the flowers with Studio Mutli Medium and those adorable charms, I love charms. The Stampman challenge is to use embossing and I have embossed my bird cage with Distress embossing powder and embossed my heart and wings with an embossing folder.

The Artistic Stamper Creative Team set the challenge to use layers and I have certainly used plenty of those from the Maya Road bird cage to the layer of paper on top to my smaller bird cage, flower, hearts and wings etc. The weather has been wonderful this week so I have spent most of my time in the garden and on the allotment so I am only just in time with this piece for a couple of the challenges but I still made it LOL.  Enjoy your weekend.  Tracy x x