Paperboy

Welcome to my weekly post for Artistic Outpost. Today I am showcasing the fabulous Bottle Caps Background stamp and the Paperboy stamp set, available from Our Daily Bread Designs.

I began with a 4" x 6" piece of card, colouring the background with Vintage Photo and Fired Brick Distress Inks. I applied each of the inks to a piece of reclycled plastic, spritzed with water and then pressed the ink onto the background. I repeated this process for both colours; continuing until I was happy with the coverage and then dried with a heat tool. I flicked droplets of water onto the background and then dried to add bleached out areas.

I added touches of background stamping using the Ephemera Backgrounds stamp set and Vintage Photo Distress Ink.

I stamped three of the Bottle Caps onto the background using Black Archival Ink and then stamped the Paperboy onto a scrap of card that had been coloured with Vintage Photo Distress Ink. I cut out the image and then added to the card. I also included a bottle cap with the text from The Golf Club stamp set.

Thanks so much for stopping by. Tracy x x

The Game of Golf

Today I am showcasing a masculine card using the fabulous Golf Club stamp set from Artistic Outpost, available from Our Daily Bread Designs.

I began by adding removable tape to all the edges of my card; masking the outside edges so that only the central panel is visible for decoration. The central panel was then coloured with Peeled Paint Distress Ink and dried with a heat tool.

I then placed Tim Holtz Harlequin Stencil onto the panel and then blended Vintage Photo Distress Ink randomly over the stencil to add a further layer to the background. I then flicked the background with water to add bleached out areas and then dried with a heat tool. I then stamped the golfer onto the background with Black Archival Ink. I created a mask of the golfer, placed this over my stamped image and then stamped the background stamp over the top and then removed the mask. I applied Carbon Black Fluid Acrylic to an old lid and stamped a circle around the imagery.

To add further interest I added a touch of random stamping to the background using the Ephemera Backgrounds stamp and Fern Green Archival Ink. I also included some painted scratchy lines using an old credit card.

I added the sentiment Live, Laugh, Play to the background and added a stamped image to the inside of the card. I also included delicate splatters of Peeled Paint Distress Paint to the background once I had removed the removable tape.

Thanks so much for stopping by. Tracy x x

Gardening Gift

Welcome to my weekly post for Artistic Outpost. Today I am showcasing one of my favourite stamps; Seed Packets Background, available from Our Daily Bread Designs.

I thought I would create a gift idea this week; a seed box which would house seed cards and seeds for the recipient to plant. I began by die cutting the Seed Box using Eileen Hull's Recipe Box Sizzix Die and coordinated Recipe Cards.

I coloured the seed box with Peeled Paint and Vintage Photo Distress Inks; applying the inks to a piece of recylced plastic and then pressing the ink covered plastic onto the die cut piece and then drying with a heat tool. I applied one colour at a time until I was happy with the coverage. The coordinated cards were also coloured in exactly the same way.

I stamped the front of the seed box with the Seed Packets Background stamp using Potting Soil Archival Ink which adds further to the aged vintage feel.

I added one of Wendy Vecchi Matt Minis which I coloured with Orange Blossom Archival Embossing Powder to create a Terracotta pot. Whilst the melted powder was hot I used one of the background stamps from the Grunge Elements stamp set and stamped into the hot powder which added further to the aged pot appearance. When I added the embossing powder to the pot I removed some of the powder from around the edges and then once the melted powder was cool I then coloured the edges with Potting Soil Archival Ink to add further to the ageing. I stamped the back of the seed cards with the Grunge Elements stamps.

Each card was stamped with the Seed Packets Background stamp, which I inked with Fern Green and Potting Soil Archival Inks.

I added a plant label to the terracotta pot which I stamped with part of the imagery from the Seed Packets Background. The plastic plant labels were coloured with Citrus Alcohol Ink. I also added a plant label to the lid of the box and added some random stamping using the background stamp from the Grunge Elements stamp set. The wording 'Harvest', 'Plant' and 'Seeds' are from the Harvest stamp set. I applied Vintage Photo Distress Ink to all the edges.

Thanks so much for stopping by. Tracy x x

Reap What You Sow!

Today I am showcasing the fabulous Harvest stamp set from Artistic Outpost, available from Our Daily Bread Designs.

I am back to the vintage muted tones today stamping my imagery on Kraft card; I love the look and feel of Kraft card with these images! I began by die cutting two different sized circles from scrap card and using the apertures as stencils. I placed the circular stencils over the Kraft card and then used a white Gelato to draw around the stencils. I removed the stencil and then smudged the Gelato with my finger.

I placed the stencil back over the circular areas and then stamped one circle with the boy image from the Harvest stamp set and stamped the second circular area with the Seed Packets Background stamp; both stamped with Potting Soil Archival Ink.

I add further white highlights, colouring some of the imagery with a white coloured pencil. I also added some random machine stitching for added interest and texture. Background stamping has been added using the stamps from the Grunge Elements stamp set.

Circular pieces of rusty wire have been stapled into place for added texture.

I have also added one of the sentiments from the Harvest set to the inside of my card.

Delicate splatters of Fresco Finish Snowflake paint add further interest.

Thanks so much for stopping by. Tracy x x

Eileen Hull and Crescent Collaborate!

This month the Eileen Hull Design Team are collaborating with Crescent to bring you a month of blog posts to inspire you to create!

For today's post I am using the Crescent Photo Mat Art Board and the RENDЯ Paper (HERE is a video showing clearly how fantastic the RENDЯ Paper takes various mediums).

1. Photo Mat Art Board - it is possible to use any mediums on this product, ink it, watercolour washes, stamping, glue, draw, embellish, use with photographs and is a perfect combination with the
   RENDЯ Paper.
2. RENDЯ Paper - The magic of Crescent's RENDЯ Paper is that no matter how much you ink, marker, stamp, spray or paint or whatever medium you use there is no show-through or bleed through; absolutely perfect for mixed media.

I decided to create a travel gardening journal. I visit many gardens and love to take photos so I thought I would make this journal to keep a record of my visits and to also create journal pages inspired by my visits, particularly using colour, various mediums and Eileen Hull's flower dies.

1 I began with the Photo Mat Art Board (this one is 8" in width and 10" in length). I spritzed the Board with water before applying any paint.
2 Brayer over the Mat Art Board with Squeezed Lemonade Distress Paint, using only a light touch.
3 Continue to brayer the paint until the Mat Art Board is covered with one layer of colour.
4 Brayer Picked Raspberry Distress Paint over the Mat Board to give a second layer of colour and then dry with a heat tool.

1 Any paint that was remaining on my craft sheet I mopped up with a piece of the RENDЯ Paper to use at a later date on a second piece of artwork.
2 Take a piece of the RENDЯ Paper from the pad.
3 Brayer over the RENDЯ Paper with Squeezed Lemonade and Ripe Persimmon Distress Paint.
4 Continue to add layers of the paint until you are happy with the coverage. It does not matter how many layers of paint you add there is no show-through on the reverse.

1 Turn the RENDЯ Paper over the the reverse side and then apply Squeezed Lemonade and Ripe Persimmon Distress Paint directly onto the paper.
2 Brayer the two colours of paint together over the paper.
3 Take the Tim Holtz Stripes Layering Stencil and apply Pciked Raspberry Distress Ink directly to the stencil.
4 Repeat the same process with Carved Pumpkin Distress Ink; applying the ink directly to the stencil.

1 Spritz the inked stencil with water.
2 Place the inked stencil face down onto the Mat Art Board and then dab the back of the stencil with kitchen towel to ensure good contact between the stencil and the Mat Art Board.
3 Dry the ink with a heat tool. Repeat this process several times to add random stencilling to the background and dry once again with a heat tool.
4 Apply Texture Paste over the Stripes Layering Stencil to add a further layer of interest and texture to the design.

1 Add Texture Paste over the Stripes Layering Stencil randomly around the Mat Art Board and then allow to dry completely.
2 Die Cut the RENDЯ Paper we coloured in the previous steps; die cutting using Eileen Hull's Flower, Heart and Soul Die. Die cut a circle from the decorated RENDЯ Paper.
3 Cut away the petals from the die cut flower (as for this design we are only using the petals to create a different flower).
4 Cut the die cut circle in half and add shading to the two semi circles with Vintage Photo Distress Ink.

1 Add shading to the edges of each petal using Carved Pumpkin Distress Ink using a piece of Cut 'n' Dry Foam to apply the ink.
2 Add a second layer of colour to the edges, in this case Fired Brick Distress Ink.
3 Scribble Distress Crayons onto the background of the Mat Art Board.
4 Blend the Distress Crayons with a finger to blend.

I used Eileen Hull's Twist and Style Craft Tool to create my stems from rusty tin wire. I also added delicate splatters of paint for added interest along with delicate background stamping using Tim Holtz Ledger Script Stamp and Monarch Orange Archival Ink. I love how all the layer are visible! I also added coordinated vintage ribbon coloured with Distress Inks, tied to the book rings.

I added a sentiment to the aperture of the Mat Art Board which I thought was perfect for my travel gardening journal. The background piece in the aperture is a piece of the RENDЯ Paper brayered with layers of paint.

I added a touch more shading to the tops of my faux Echinacea flowers along with some delicate random stamping.

The flower petals were bent a little to give movement and shape to the flower. I also used two of the petals as leaves.

The black splatters of paint and scratchy lines added with an old credit/store card give further interest to the design.

I added three layers of petals to give a 3d like appearance to each faux Echinacea flower.

Thanks so much for stopping by. Tracy x x