A Vintage Journey - Texture

Welcome to a new challenge with A Vintage Journey. This month our challenge is "Embossing Pastes/Textures" hosted by Astrid.

This is what Astrid had to say about her challenge:

"Use any kind of texture paste (home made, crackle, coloured or plain) on your projects. There is an endless variety available, so play, have fun and apply it to your heart's content. Use it through stencils, randomly or in whatever way you want, but remember it should be in one of the vintage; shabby; mixed media; art journalling; industrial or steampunk styles that we favour. Put on your mixed media hat and create some magic! " 

Once I saw Astrid's challenge I knew I wanted to decorate a piece of mdf but did not really have anything in mind, not until I found this mdf snowman that is!

1. Apply Texture Paste over your substrate; I applied using an old credit/store card to apply varying thickness in texture.

2 Dry the Texture Paste lightly with a heat tool.

3 Spritz a text stamp ( in this case Tim Holtz Ledger Script stamp) with water.

4 Press the stamply very lightly into the texture paste. Repeat these four steps to cover the whole substrate with stamping.

1 Apply texture paste to the hat along with two wooden trees, which I pressed into the wet Texture Paste.

2 Add a wooden bird house and bird for added interest; adding texture paste randomly to the birdhouse.

3 Die cut two snowflakes from white card using Tim Holtz Sizzix Die and then press each one into the texture paste and then allow to dry completely.

3 Paint the first layer of paint which in this case is DecoArt Prussian Blue Hue.

4 Allow the first layer of paint to dry or dry with a heat tool.

I added layers of dry brushing; a technique from Andy Skinner, diluting the Prussian Blue Hue each time I dry brushed; adding DecoArt Media Tinting Base to the blue to lighten each time.

I added DecoArt SnowWriter to the base of my snowman and to the rim of the hat along with touches of snow randomly added to some of the dimensional pieces. I also added small wooden trees to the base which I also painted with DecoArt Media Prussian Blue Hue. I also included some twigs from my garden for added texture and interest along with some mini pine cones. A ChitChat sticker has also been added.

To add further to the layers and texture I also included one coat of Crackle Glaze which I applied randomly to my work and then applied Raw Umber Antiquing Cream.

I added rusty buttons which I painted with touches of DecoArt Media Burnt Umber Fluid Acrylic along with touches of Carbon Black, dried with my heat tool and then added touches of Quinacridone Gold, applying with my finger. I then added touches of the snow to the edges. I also applied touches of the snow to the snowflakes again applying with my finger.

The nose was given the same treatment as the buttons and I added two mini pine cones to the top of his hat and added natural twine around his neck.

I love how all the layers are visible along with all the added texture.

Our sponsor this month is Country View Crafts who are offering a £20 Gift Voucher to the randomly drawn winner. I hope you will create a little texture of your own this month and join in our challenge!

Thanks so much for stopping by. Tracy x x

I Scream, You Scream, We All Scream For Ice Cream!

I have been playing with the Ice Cream Shoppe stamp set this time around from Artistic Outpost. All stamps are available from Our Daily Bread Designs.

I decided to create invites this time around which I thought would be perfect for a birthday party.  I began by die cutting three Recipe Cards from white card using Eileen Hull's die. The background has been coloured with Picked Raspberry and Squeezed Lemonade Distress Inks. I applied each colour to a piece of recycled plastic packaging, spritzed with water and then dabbed the ink onto the background and then dried with a heat tool. Repeated the same process with the second colour and dried once again. I repeated this until I was happy with the coverage of colour.

I added a touch of background stamping using the Ephemera Backgrounds stamp and Picked Raspberry Distress Ink.

I printed off computer generated text which I die cut using one of Tim Holtz Thinlits Labels adding a touch of colour with Picked Raspberry Distress Ink. I also used part of the sentiment to add Ice Cream three times to each of the invites.

I stamped the ice cream cone with Black Archival Ink onto each of the invites. I also thought that these would make great recipe cards. You could add a homemade ice cream recipe to the back.

For added interest I included painted circles and scratchy lines using Picked Raspberry Distress Paint. I added Black Soot Distress Ink to the edges for definition.

Thanks so much for stopping by. Tracy x x

The joy is in the planting!

Welcome to my weekly post for Artistic Outpost. Today I am using the fabulous Seed Packets Background stamp and the Harvest stamp set. As I am a keen gardener, these are a favourite of mine at the moment.

I cut a piece of white card 4.5" x 6.5" and then applied removable tape around all the edges of the card, leaving me a panel in the centre to stamp and decorate. I added a piece of book page to the central panel.

I coloured the central panel with Peeled Paint and Vintage Photo Distress Inks. I applied the inks directly to a non-stick craft sheet, applied water to the panel with a paintbrush and then used a wet paintbrush to apply Peeled Paint Distress Ink first and then Vintage Photo; blending as I moved around and then dried with a heat tool.

I then stamped the Seed Packets Background image onto the coloured background using Black Archival Ink. I then applied a good thick coat of DecoArt Crackle Glaze and allowed to dry completely. DecoArt Raw Umber Antiquing Cream was applied to accentuate the cracks and then I added Matte Medium over the top to protect. I stamped the sentiment from the Harvest stamp set onto white card using Fern Green Archival Ink, colouring the edges with Peeled Paint Distress Ink and then added to the card.

I coloured two plastic plant labels with Citrus Alcohol Ink and then stamped them with some of the text from the Seed Packets Background stamp. I added a brad to attach them together and then adhered to the card along with some appropriate wording from the Harvest stamp set.

I added stamping to the inside of my card; applying Fern Green and touches of Black Archival to part of the imagery. I then removed the removable tape from around the edges of my card, applied Vintage Photo Distress Ink to the edges and added splatters of Peeled Paint Distress Paint.

Thanks so much for stopping by. Tracy x x

Live, Laugh, Play

Today I am showcasing the Bottle Caps Background stamp and the Paperboy stamp set from Artistic Outpost, available from Our Daily Bread Designs.

I opted for a neutral backdrop created with Vintage Photo Distress Ink; applied to plastic packaging, spritzed with water and the ink pressed onto the background and then dried with a heat tool. I then applied Fired Brick Distress Ink to the Stripes Layering Stencil, spritzed with water and then lay the inked stencik onto the background, dabbing with a piece of kitchen towel and then removing and drying with a heat tool,

I also added touches of background stamping using the Ephemera Backgrounds stamp set, stamped with Potting Soil Archival Ink. I then stamped three of the bottle caps only using the Bottle Caps Background stamp and Black Archival Ink. I also added Live, Laugh, Play from The Golf Club stamp set.

I used stamps from the Grunge Elements stamp set to age the background further and to add more layers of interest.

I recycled a bottle cap and added one of the stamped bottle caps to the centre. This adds dimension to the design.

I added the children from the Paperboy stamp set to the bottom of the card, and coloured the imagery with a touch of Vintage Photo Distress Ink to age. I also added a painty circle over the imagery using Fired Brick Distress Paint and an old lid. Live, Laugh, Play was added once again, this time to the edge of the circle.

Thanks so much for stopping by. Tracy x x

A Vintage Journey - Destination Inspiration - Terminal 2

Morning everyone, thanks so much for stopping by. Today I have a "Destination Inspiration" post to share over at A Vintage Journey.

To see the full project and step by steps simply click HERE and you will be magically transported.

Hope you enjoy the step by steps. Tracy x x

The Game of Golf

Today I am showcasing The Golf Club stamp set from Artistic Outpost, available from Our Daily Bread Designs.

I love this stamp set for masculine designs.

I began by applying Peeled Paint Distress Ink to a piece of plastic packaging, spritzing with water and then pressing the ink onto the background and drying with a heat tool. I then applied Vintage Photo Distress Ink to Tim Holtz Stripes Stencil; simply press the inkpad directly onto the stencil and then spritz with water. Press the stencil onto the background, pressing on the back with a piece of kitchen towel and then remove the stencil and dry with a heat tool.

I also added a touch of random background stamping using the Ephemera Background stamp and Potting Soil Archival Ink. I then stamped the golfer with Black Archiva Ink onto the background. I created a mask of the golfer, placed the mask onto the stamped image and them stamped the image once again with Black ink. I used an old lid, applied DecoArt Burnt Umber Fluid Acrylic to the lid with my finger and then stamped the lid over the focal imagery.

I used a mix of the stamps to add Golf, Club, Ball to the background; drew around each word with a Stabilo All pencil and then smudged with a water brush. I also added the Live, Laugh, Play sentiment with Black Archival Ink. To add a further layer of interest I added splatters of Burnt Umber paint.

Thanks so much for stopping by. Tracy x x

Seeds, Plant, Harvest

Welcome to my weekly post for Artistic Outpost. Today I am showcasing the fabulous newly released Harvest, Seed Packets Background and Grunge Elements stamp sets available from Our Daily Bread Designs.

I have opted for a more neutral colour palette this time around, giving an aged vintage feel to the imagery. I began by applying Vintage Photo Distress Ink to the background of the Kraft card; adding the ink to a piece of plastic packaging, spritzing with water and then pressing the ink onto the background and then drying with a heat tool. I then applied Potting Soil Archival ink to the Seed Packets Background stamp and stamped towards one edge of my card. I then die cut a small circle from the card using a circle die and then applied Vintage Photo Distress Ink around the circular aperture.

I then die cut a second circle from white card and then stamped the boy from the Harvest stamp set onto the circle using Potting Soil Archival Ink. I applied Vintage Photo Distress Ink to a non-stick craft sheet, spritzed with water and then mopped up the ink lightly with the card to age and then dried with a heat tool. I then adhered the decorated piece and the circle to a card blank. I added a memo pin, attaching a small tag to the pin stamped with part of the imagery from the Seed Packets Background stamp along with a stamped plant label, again using part of the imagery from the Seed Packets Background. I aged the plastic plant label with Potting Soil Archival Ink.

I stamped the sentiment onto a separate piece of craft card, bent the card to age and then coloured with Vintage Photo Distress Ink, applying more ink to the creases. To add further to the aged feel I used background stamps from the Grunge Elements stamp set, stamping with Potting Soil Archival Ink.

To complete, I added some splatters of Fresco Finish Snowflake Paint to the background.

Thanks so much for stopping by. Tracy x x