ARTSY CANVAS

I've created an artsy canvas for Creative Expressions this week using Tim Holtz Classics 5 Stamp Collection and Classics 4 Stamp Collection.

The backdrop is painted with Mushroom Eco Green Acrylic Paint and then dry brushed with touches of  Pure Copper.

The face stamp has been stamped onto tissue with Black Archival Ink and then adhered to the canvas.

Cosmic Shimmer Clear Texture Paste has been applied through a Large Polka Mask before applying the coat of paint. Once everything was dry I have also added Pearl Moon Metallic Gilding Wax to highlight the wonderful texture. Random stamping has been added using the background stamp from the Classics 4 Stamp Set using Black Archival Ink.

I've also added a mini canvas for further dimension and added Fancy Key Charms for further interest, again rubbing over with the wonderful Pearl Moon Metallic Gilding Wax to highlight the detail.

Buttons have been added around both images, painted with acrylic paint and sprayed with touches of Dylusions Spray. Once again I highlighted detail with the Metallic Wax. I have also added ART using Signmaker Alpha Parts.

Thanks so much for stopping by and leaving a comment. Have a wonderful weekend. Tracy x x

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New Releases - Artistic Outpost

We have a couple more new wonderful releases from Artistic Outpost, HAYRIDE and CHRISTMAS CHALK.

This is the HAYRIDE plate a fabulous mix of images, perfect for all those Autumnal makes.

The CHRISTMAS CHALK plate, perfect for all those seasonal makes which we will all be thinking about shortly.

The first thing I thought when I saw the HAYRIDE plate was pumpkin patch, hence I added the children to a pumpkin patch.

I die cut a pumpkin from white card using Tim Holtz die, coloured with spiced marmalade and wild honey Distress Ink, adding gathered twigs to the edges. I then added a good thick coat of Rock Candy to the top and then applied more gathered twigs Distress Ink into the cracks once dry. I also added wooden letters for further dimension and interest.

The backdrop has been coloured with gathered twigs Distress Ink and splattered with water. I have also added some foliage stamped with black Archival Ink. The pumpkins have been stamped onto white card and coloured with a Distress Marker adding the children standing inside the pumpkin patch. I have also added the sign and added computer generated text.

I decided to create something a little different with the CHRISTMAS CHALK plate, decorated candles. These stamps I felt would work in red, giving a real Norwegian feel to them.

Decorated candles would make a perfect gift, they are so inexpensive but add stamped images and they are transformed. I stamped the images with vermillion Archival Ink onto tissue paper and then added to the candle.

I added a felt stag to one of the candles and wrapped twine around the top of the candle adding a double bow for further interest.

Wooden baubles were added to the two smaller candles to add to that rustic feel along with more twine wrapped around the top of each.

My fellow Design Team members have made some fabulous pieces to inspire you, please pop along and visit their blogs and be inspired along the way

• Gerrie Johnnic
• Lisa Somerville
• Suzanne Czosek
• Tracy Evans
• Linda Coughlin
• Alison Bomber
• Terry Horrall
• Kate Yetter

Thanks so much for stopping by. Tracy x x

FESTIVE FRAME

Welcome to STAMPtember®, a wonderful creative month with Simon Says Stamp!  Simon Says Stamp are celebrating for the whole month of September by hosting a STAMPtember® event intended to inspire, educate, and celebrate the greatness of rubber stamping.

The Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge this week is all about stamping on different surfaces, of course you can use your stamps on card stock but there are so many more possibilities, fabric, vellum, patterned paper, canvas, wood. This week we would love you to grab a stamp and experiment, maybe trying something a little different from plain white card stock.

I found a small dimensional frame lurking at the back of my shelves and it's that time of year when I start to think about my seasonal pieces for friends and family. I like to be organised and try and make at least one seasonal piece each week, come December 1st you feel wonderful knowing all your cards are made! However, I always struggle trying to think of ideas for my teenage nephew's but once I stumbled across the Toy Soldier die I knew I had the start of an idea. Can you believe this is the first time I have used this die, something I will rectify this year!

I began by covering the inside of my frame with paper from the Seasonal Paper Stash and then painted the outside of my frame with fired brick Distress Paint. I then added stamping to my wooden frame using the background stamp from the Season's Silhouettes stamp set.

I only really wanted one or two words on my frame so I masked off the stamp with paper and inked up the word I wanted to add to the frame using olive Archival Ink.

You will notice that I have not used an acrylic bloc for this as I find it much easier to stamp on an uneven surface using the stamp as is rather than on a block, I can press firmly and obtain a good stamping onto the wood, random stamping is also easier this way, rolling the stamp across the surface.

I repeated this process to add WISHES to the side of my frame and I also added a touch of random stamping using the background stamp from Wendy Vecchi's Art Of Making It Merry Stamp Set.

I die cut the Toy Soldier and added it to the frame, adding a small piece of wood behind the soldier so that he stands proud inside the frame, rather than affixing him flush to the back piece.

Chitchat stickers have been added to the wooden frame and also to an Enameled Tag, adding a touch of fired brick Distress Paint to the tag with my finger. I also added some mini pinecones which I picked up from my recent holiday in a forest, I love the natural touch these give. Gold cord has been added around the edge of my frame for further texture and interest.

A Christmas Snowflake Adornment has been added to the side of my frame for added depth, affixed to a piece of twine tied in a double bow.

A large snowflake rosette has been added to the top of the frame using the snowflake rosettie die, cut from a piece of the Seasonal Paper Stash, adding touches of fired brick Distress Ink to coordinate with my frame. A
Cosmo Cricket Cheer Button has been added to the centre of the rosette threaded with coordinate twine.

For more great ideas please pop over to the Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge blog and take a look at my fellow team members they have created some inspirational projects. Remember there is also the chance to win a $50 prize from Simon Says Stamp.  I always look forward to seeing your creations each week.

Thanks so much for stopping by and leaving a comment, much appreciated.  Enjoy your week. Tracy x x 

Products Used:

Tim Holtz Alterations - Toy Soldier Die, Seasonal Paper Stash, Chitchat Stickers, Enameled Tags, Christmas Adornments, Snowflake Rosette Die
Tim Hotlz Stampers Anonymous Season's Silhouettes Stamp Set
Wendy Vecchi Art Of Making It Merry Stamp Set
Distress Paint - Fired Brick
Archival Ink - Olive
Gold Cord
Twine
Cosmo Cricket Cheer Buttons



 

Art Washes Away From The Soul The Dust Of Every Day Life

I've used the Stampers Anonymous Tim Hotlz Classics 4 Stamp Set this week to create my card for Creative Expressions, I am loving the background text stamps in this set.

I am also loving using colour this week in the form of Picked Raspberry and Spiced Marmalade Distress Ink.

A mini canvas has been added to the top of my card to add wonderful dimension, stamped with the images from the Classics 4 Stamp Set and I have also added Signmaker Alpha Parts for added interest along with Remnant Rubs Numbers.

I have added layers of stamping in the background, stamping first with Picked Raspberry to give tone on tone stamping and then with Black Archival Ink which pops against the colourful backdrop.

ART has been added using Alpha Parts to add further dimension and interest along with a Pen Nib coloured with Black Soot Distress Paint.

The fabulous background text has been added to the bottom of my card, I love this text so useful to use in any project. I have also added a second Pen Nib.

Why not pop by the Creative Expressions NEWS page to catch up with my fellow DT team members inspiring art work and there are also inspiring workshops posted by Suzanne Saltwell along with the regular tv schedules.

Thanks so much for stopping by. Tracy x x

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DREAMS ARE FOREVER

I've been using the fabulous CHALK IT UP and CHALKBOARD WISDOM plates to create my vintage card this week.

The background has been coloured with Gathered Twigs Distress Ink and flicked with water to add bleached out blotches to the background.

I stamped the frame from the CHALK IT UP plate using Black Archival Ink and I then added random stamping to the frame using the background stamp from the EPHEMERA BACKGROUNDS stamp plate using Black and Sepia Archival Inks. I then added the wonderful bird from the BIRDS OF A FEATHER plate.

The two birds at the top of the frames is also from the CHALK IT UP plate and is a lovely filler to coordinate with any Artistic Outpost stamp plates. Natural twine and a bird cage charm have been added for further interest.

A second frame has been stamped alongside the first, stamping the fabulous sentiment from the CHALKBOARD WISDOM plate, again background stamping has also been added.

A dimensional flower has been added, cut from Calico, adding a touch of background stamping to the petals for further interest along with a medallion to the centre.

The dots, from the CHALKBOARD WISDOM plate are yet another great filler and I love them here stamped at the bottom of each frame. Ornate brass corners have been added for further dimension.

Thanks so much for stopping by. Tracy x x

A Marianne Mixed Bag

A few of my samples were shown on Crafter's Companion Marianne shows on Sunday and I thought I would share a couple of them here.

My first piece is a huge tag which I decorated with the Marianne Camera Die which I die cut from Marianne Romantic Journey papers and I distressed the camera a little with a touch of Distress Ink around the edges.

Tim Holtz Remnant Rubs Words have been added to the Camera die cut and along the side of the tag. The background of the tag is from one of Tim Holtz Paper Stash again distressed around the edges. A DESTINY Philosopy tag has been added to one side for added dimension along with two wooden hearts.

A Marianne Travel Charm has been added for further interest along with a large dimensional flower and journey/travel definition.

Two wooden flower buttons threaded with twine along with more Remnant Rubs complete my tag.

My second piece is a canvas which again uses those warm brown vintage tones that I love along with the fabulous Marianne Apron Die. The background is a piece of Tim Hotlz Paper Stash.

I cut two further pieces from Tim's Paper Stash, two recipes, one being for Pumpkin Pie and that small piece of paper was the inspiration for this piece. I distressed the edges of the recipes and coloured with Gathered Twigs Distress Ink. I also added three small decorative pumpkins to follow the theme though the whole canvas.

PUMPKIN PIE has been added using Alpha Parts and I have stamped the SWEET sentiment onto white card using the Marianne Scallop Die and Sentiments set.

COOK has been added using wooden letters and I have added cutlery wrapped with twine.

Thanks so much for stopping by, I always love to read your kind comments.

Tracy
xxx

Faux Letterpress Technique

Welcome to STAMPtember®, a wonderful creative month with Simon Says Stamp!  Simon Says Stamp are celebrating for the whole month of September by hosting a STAMPtember® event intended to inspire, educate, and celebrate the greatness of rubber stamping.

From dry embossed paper to creating a resist effect with clear embossing powder, extra fine embossing powder to melted UTEE, there are so many wonderful opportunities to add texture to your creative pieces this week. Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge Blog would love to see your embossing this week in any shape or form!

I stumbled across the Brush Poinsettias Texture Fade whilst thinking about what to create this week and that as they say is how my creative journey began!

My piece began with the Brush Poinsettia embossing folder and the faux letterpress technique. For this technique you simply need an embossing folder/texture fade, ink and card, simple!

In this case I decided on fired brick Distress Ink as this is a lovely Christmas red for my card. Apply the Distress Ink direct to the folder (the debossed side).

Apply a good coverage of ink to the folder ensuring the whole debossed side is covered with ink.

Place a piece of white card into the folder, close and then run through a die cutting machine to emboss (I used the BigShot).

Once you remove the card from the folder the backdrop is covered with ink and the embossed design is in white, I love this technique.

To decorate the card I die cut the Tattered Poinsettias from white card and coloured with fired brick Distress Ink.

I then wanted to add some stamping to the poinsettia so decided on the background stamp from Wendy Vecchi's Art of Making It Merry.

Place the background stamp uppermost onto a flat surface, ink the stamp with vermillion Archival Ink.

Press each tattered poinsettia onto the inked background stamp to add stamping to each piece.

I added the faux letterpress embossed piece to a piece of Tim Holtz Seasonal Paper Stash and rounded off the corners using a corner rounder., blending a touch of gathered twigs Distress Ink around all the edges.

Random stamping has been added to the embossed poinsettia using the background stamp from Art Of Making It Merry with vermillion Archival Ink. I have also added a second tattered poinsettia to my card but this time I did not add any stamping to the poinsettia.

I have also added some greenery to the tattered poinsettia using the foliage from the tattered pinecone die. A green button threaded with twine has been added to the centre of the poinsettia. A tiny tag has been cut from white card, coloured with fired brick Distress Ink and stamping added using the background stamp. JOY has been added to the top of the tag using label letters.

The second poinsettia has been layered together and added just below the first, again adding a button threaded with twine to the centre.

I have added a double bow and twine across the card along with a Christmas button threaded with more twine. A second tiny tag has also been added for further interest.

JOY has been added to the top of the card using Alpha Parts.

For more great ideas please pop over to the Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge blog and take a look at my fellow team members they have created some inspirational projects. Remember there is also the chance to win a $50 prize from Simon Says Stamp.  I always look forward to seeing your creations each week.

 Thanks so much for stopping by. Tracy x x

Products Used:

Tim Holtz Alterations - Brush Poinsettias & Winter Berries Texture Fades, Tattered Poinsettia Die, Tattered Pinecone Die, Tiny Tabs and Tags Die
Tim Holtz Seasonal Paper Stash
Tim Holtz Idea-ology - Label Letters, Alpha Parts Signmaker
Distress Inks - Fired Brick, Gathered Twigs
Wendy Vecchi Studio 490 Art Of Making It Merry
Vermillion Archival Ink
Twine
Cosmo Cricket Elements Cheer Buttons
Ink Blending Tool
Non-Stick Craft Sheet