Monday 2 September 2013

Stamping All Stars

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 inteded to inspire, educate, and celebrate the greatness of rubber stamping. 



All stampers, scrapbookers, mixed media artists all have at least one stamping all-star in his or her stash. Whether it is a background stamp that works with everything or an ink pad that you rarely create without, this week Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge Blog would like you to highlight your personal creative all-stars!
 
A piece of corrugated card was my inspiration this week, developing into a rustic hanging. I love brushed corduroy and gathered twigs Distress Inks and rarely create without them. However, my newest all-star is gathered twigs as it adds wonderful warmth, age and a vintage feel to any project. I have combined my all-star with an old favourite of mine, Tim Holtz Papillon stamp set.
I began my piece with the moths and butterflies stamp, applying VersaMark ink to the stamp and stamping onto a piece of white card.
Once the image has been stamped sprinkle with white embossing powder and heat with a heat tool to melt.
The image is now embossed and will act as a resist against the ink I apply in the next step. I aged and tore the edges using a paper distresser.
Apply gathered twigs Distress Ink over the embossed image using an ink blending tool, working on a non-stick craft sheet.
Once the stamped piece has been coloured take a piece of damp kitchen towel and remove any excess colour from the embossed areas, this makes the images pop against the background.
Gathered twigs adds wonderful warmth and age to my piece, I love it.
Spritz water into your hand and then flick the droplets of water onto the coloured piece.
Distress Ink is reactive with water and will leave blotches/bleached out areas in the background, adding further interest to the stamping.
Dab up the excess water with a piece of kitchen towel and then heat dry with a heat tool.
The water droplets also add to the aged feel of this piece, just like old stained paper from many years ago.
I stamped the background stamp onto white card and repeated the same process to age and add water blotches to the background. For further interest I also added a touch of machine stitching.
A touch of dimension has been added to one of the butterflies, stamping with gathered twigs Distress Ink and adding a pen nib coloured with ginger Alcohol Ink for further interest.
I have added FLY using Alpha Cards, attached using the tiny attacher and colouring with gathered twigs Distress Ink. To echo FLY I also added FLY to jump rings adhered with Glossy Accents.
An ornate plate has been added for further dimension and texture, colouring with olive bronze Treasure Gold metallic wax adding FLY to the centre.  I have also included an enamel tag, adding label letters to add fly to the tag and colouring with a touch of frayed burlap Distress Paint and attaching with rusty wire.
I have added FLY to the bottom corner to echo FLY in the top corner again attached with the tiny attacher. I have also included two SOAR Adage Tickets, which I crumpled to age and then coloured with gathered twigs Distress Ink.
I added touches of Gesso to the corrugated card to lift the colour a little and to add more interest to the backdrop. A Prima Flower Typo Bulb has been added to the bottom corner coloured with ginger Alcohol Ink.
Two wooden butterflies have been added stamped with the background stamp from the Papillon set using gathered twigs Distress Ink. I added rusty wire to hang my hanging attached with hitch fasteners.
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 Stampers Anonymous Papillon Stamp Set
Tim Holtz Idea-ology - Pen Nibs, Alpha Cards, Jump Rings, Ornate Plates, Enameled Tags, Label Letters, Adage Tickets, Hitch Fasteners
Distress Inks - Gathered Twigs
Distress Paint - Frayed Burlap
Ginger Alcohol Ink
VersaMark Watermark Stamp Pad
White Embossing Powder
Heat Tool
Paper Distresser
Ink Blending Tool
Non-Stick Craft Sheet
Tiny Attacher
Glossy Accents
PaperArtsy Olive Bronze Treasure Gold Metallic Wax
Claudine Hellmuth Gesso
Prima Flowers Typo Bulbs
Studio Calico Butterflies Wood Veneers


25 comments:

Mona Pendleton said...

Stunning project Tracy! Love all the beautiful embossed images and distressing! Thanks for the inspiration!

Brenda Brown said...

A terrific hanging Tracy full of wonderful stamping and techniques.
hugs {brenda} x0x

Helen said...

FAbulous project, I love the warmth of gathered twigs too, it is perfect for this piece.

The Queen of Collage said...

This craft project is absolutely wonderful and truly inspirational tfs :)

Anna-Karin said...

Beautiful project Tracy! Love the corrugated background, and the water splattered ink together with the white embossing. Gathered Twigs is my favourite brown distress ink too.

Meihsia Liu said...

What a great wall hanging! Tracy. I love the beautiful corrugated background and the gorgeous embossed butterflies. Thank you for sharing the great insipation. :)

Paula Whittaker said...

Just wonderful - looks fab

Maura said...

Beautiful! I like the simplicity of colors and your use of the cardboard for the background.

Diane said...

Super fun design.

Regards diane

Andrea Ockey Parr said...

Whoa! I L-O-V-E how did the reverse-color technique on the butterflies so that the white popped so beautifully. You are always so skilled at several techniques that I would never think of in a billion years. Thanks, as always, for the inspiration.

Michelle said...

Tracy, this is beautiful! I always look forward to seeing your projects. They truly inspire me.

May said...

Fabulous creation Tracy, Love the effect of the embossing & the corrugated background...Love it!! Hugs May x x x

Redanne said...

Hi Tracy, for me this really has that wow factor, I love that embossing technique and the Gathered Twigs is such a beautiful background colour... wonderful! Hugs, Anne x

JansArtyJunk said...

Oh Tracy, what a wonderful hanging...loving the shabby colour combo, embossed butterflies and the use of corrugated cardboard...beautiful creation! Jan x

Anonymous said...

Simply stunning!!! x

Dianne said...

Oh my dear Tracy, I did go and look at the other teams creation,
all the design team made some fabulous creations, this one is my favorite, you have added everything I love on the hanging, OMGOODNESS I absolutly am in looooooove wit it, yikes my wings are flapping all over my claws are clicking all over my desk, very hard to type "O).
Thanks for sharing your outstanding project, big hugs..

email: Steph@SimonSaysStamp.com said...

Love the resist on this project, Tracy!! It's gorgeous :)

*mwah*
Steph
Simon Says Stamp!

Anonymous said...

As usual, you manage to just knock my socks off with the texture in your work! Gorgeous!

Suzanne C said...

So many of my favorite things here... including your work! :) lOve those butterflies and the water spots gorgeous. Stunning project.

Sandra said...

Really lovely piece, Tracy! Love the kraft with white combo! And those papillon stamps are so pretty! They are a favorite of mine too! Hugs, Sandra

barbarayaya62 said...

A fabulous idea!! Beautiful colors and stamps that I love so much! BArbarayaya

Words and Pictures said...

Gorgeous - definitely some of my All-Stars here... the Papillon script and butterflies (love that added dimensional one), fabulous Gathered Twigs - and the embossed images look so cool in white. Fantastic corrugated background too, naturally!!

Love this!
Alison x

Anita Houston The Artful Maven said...

Definitely a fabulous set of stamps! Love the white embossing on the brown! Gorgeous make!

Mary Elizabeth said...

Tracy ... Wow! No wonder this is hanging in your craft room. It is fabulous!!! It has just about everything I love about vintage, rustic crafts. Great composition ... and I really love the bulb at the bottom. Thanks for the details and all the inspiration that you've provided with this piece. Mary Elizabeth

Lynn Stevens said...

Love the embossing with the sepia tone on top, it really makes everything POP!!!!
Bravo once again... Your so inspiring!
Hugs Lynn