Time for a tag ...

Hello my lovely friends and visitors, I hope your weekend is going well.  I have a tag to share with you today and here it is …

  

I love creating mixed media tags, they take time to create and time to dry

A final look

Created for me and especially for these Challenges

Allsorts Challenge #348 Bring on the Bling

Anything But Cute Challenge Ring out the Old, Bring in the New listed below

 Butterfly Challenge #47 O: over the edge or U: undulating

I think this fits because my torn edge is undulating, if it doesn't I remove it

                                 Frilly & Funkie Challenge Enjoy your Embossing

Pixie’s Snippets Playground #214

Spectrum Noir Facebook Challenge Anything Goes

Stamplorations Mixed Media Challenge January

 Stamplorations Never Ending Anything Goes Challenge if you use their stamps 

Stamps & Stencils Challenge Oh So Blue 
We Love to Create Challenge #3 Anything Goes

I had so much fun creating this tag!  I wanted to incorporate butterflies, heat embossing, lots of flowers, lots of texture, a tag in mainly shades of blue, and if I was going to be brave I would share a part of what I had drawn or a stamped and coloured flower piece if I was going to chicken out.

Going through my box of bits, bobs and snippets I located one of the A6 hand drawn pieces I created over Christmas.  My wonderful hubby was persuaded to purchase the Spectrum Noir Aqua pens as my crafty Christmas present, during Crafter’s Companion 10^th Birthday party in October as they were a really good deal.  Hubby told me to purchase them but I was not to use them before Christmas (they’ve been tormenting me and calling my name since October)!  When I got to play with them on Christmas Day I didn’t want to leave my lovely hubby by going into the craft room so I played with the pens on Christmas day because I had cut watercolour paper and white card to A6 size a couple of days before Christmas and I made sure my aqua pen was fully loaded too lol!  The next bits/bobs/snippets I located was a snippet watercolour card that had been coloured with AquaTints and I used that as the base layer for my tag.

 

Finally I have only one large box of very old embellishments and I located the black Petaloo flowers that had a fluorescent pink gem in the middle.  I hadn’t used them because I didn’t like black flowers with a fluorescent pink gem so I changed them. 

I retrieved a tag and adhered the AquaTint coloured paper to it, then I attached a Stamplorations stencil with Washi tape and added the sand texture medium down the RHS.  I painted the black flowers with turquoise acrylic and sprinkled blue glitter onto the middle of the flowers (hiding the fluorescent pink gem) and left them to dry.  Next step was to tear the drawn and coloured image in half and inked it up heavily.  I stamped and embossed the butterflies and fussy cut them out.  The tag and everything else was dry by now so I attached the drawn piece, added the butterflies along the torn edge and attached the flowers and glittered stamens to the last flower.  Finished and I was happy with the end result too.

Now that Christmas is over I’m very happy to be back playing with my mixed media supplies and some of the gorgeous new arts and crafts supplies I was gifted for Christmas.  Today’s tag used three of my new items.  The cherry on the top for me was that I feel brave enough to add part of my own artwork to this tag.  Thank you so much for taking the time to visit and comment.  I really do appreciate it and I hope you get some time to do what you love to do soon  ttfn Karen x

Tools

Stamp: Stamplorations: Trendy Butterflies stamp set

Stencil: Stamplorations: Foiled Again stencil

Supplies 

Miscellaneous Tools: palette knife; paint brushes; pot of water

Card Paper: tags; Mixed Media card *

EP Ink/Paint/Pen Colours: Spectrum Noir Aqua pens *; DecoArt Americana acrylic: Turquoise

Embellishments:  Wild Orchid Crafts: stamens; Petaloo flowers #; blue glitter #

Adhesives/Mediums:  DecoArt Texture Sand Paste white *; Collall all purpose glue

# V.O.S. very old stash, must be 5 plus years old

* new products

Another sketch, that is mixed media, CAS and a CASE ...

Hello my lovely friends and visitors, I hope your week was a good one and you have fabulous plans for the weekend!  I have several projects to create, many more to finish and several blog posts to type too, so this is going to be as shortish as I can make it and here is my card … 

  

Another A6, most definitely mixed media yet still CAS, love that

A final look

Created for me and especially for these Challenges

Happy Little Stamper’s Mixed Media Challenge: Use a Stencil 

 Happy Little Stamp’s CASE the Designer Challenge 

I adore the layout that Kylie used, not sure if I am allowed to enter the same card into more than one HLS Challenge at the same time.   

If not allowed let me know and I’ll remove from the CASE Challenge.

 Pixie’s Snippets Playground #213

A leftover piece of the A4 masterboard I created for project/s yet to be shared

Simon Says Stamps Wednesday Challenge Anything Goes

The Artistic Stamper Challenge January Anything Goes

Visible Image Stamps Facebook Show & Tell

Wednesday’s Creative Inspirations Challenge #343 Anything Goes

We Love to Create Challenge #2 Anything Goes 

Word Art Wednesday Challenge #218 Anything Goes

I created this card for multiple challenges using a technique Eileen Godwin has recently shared, see blog post one and post two.  Of course I never follow the techniques fully, always have to add a little of me into the mix, lol.  Because of that my A4 masterboard has not turned out like Eileen’s.  So I am going to try this again being a bit more aware of the stencils that I use, lol, after I have finished using this A4 masterboard. 

The other reason for a card is that the very lovely and talented Katy has shared some of her gorgeous creations recently using Visible Image stamps.  They have been resting for a while whilst I have been trying new techniques, new products and other new stamps.  They always come out to play again at some point though because I adore them!

Thank you so much for taking the time to visit and comment.  I really do appreciate it and I hope you get some time to do what you love to do this weekend  ttfn Karen x

Tools & Supplies

Stamp: Visible Image stamps:

Die Cutting Machine & Dies:

Stencil: Stamplorations stencil: foiled again

Miscellaneous Tools: piece of foam; craft mat

Card Paper: 2 x A4 300 gm smooth card

EP Ink/Paint/Pen Colours: Adirondack IPs#:

Embellishments: Stickles Glitter Glue: Crystal

Adhesives/Mediums: The Works: Gesso; Collall all purpose glue; Washi tape

 # VOS: very old stash and no idea if still available to purchase, min. 5 years old

Smooshing and Mixed Media and CAS and CASE ...

Hello my lovely friends and visitors, I hope your week is going well.  Another card to share with you today and here it is …

  

Another A6 size, I am loving creating smaller cards these days! 

I think the word is serendipitous, creating the smooshed panel was really that!

A final look

Created for me and especially for these Challenges

Bunny Zoe Crafts Challenge Hearts 

 C.R.A.F.T. Challenge #348 Love/Valentine/Anniversary 

Happy Little Stamper’s Clean and Simple Challenge: smooshing  

Happy Little Stamp’s CASE the Designer Challenge I adore the layout that Kylie used

I am not sure if I am allowed to enter the same card into more than one of the Happy Little Stamper’s Challenges at the same time.  If it is not allowed let me know and I will remove my entry from the CASE Challenge ladies.

Pixie’s Snippets Playground #213

Simon Says Stamps Wednesday Challenge Anything Goes

Stamplorations Clean and Simple Card Challenge

 Stamplorations Never Ending Anything Goes Challenge if you use their stamps 

Wednesday’s Creative Inspirations Challenge #343 Anything Goes/Sketch

Word Art Wednesday Challenge #218 Anything Goes

It’s my first time trying this technique and when I saw the theme at Happy Little Stamper’s I just had to play along.  Because of the craft mat I had to use the end result was surprising and lovelier than I expected, lol!  I own and use several craft mats one is used for watercolour/inking only, one is for painting with acrylics, and the final one for mucky mixed media techniques.  That was the only one I could find when I sat down to play.  My craft area is still not organised because I can’t do as much sorting (keep, recycle box, bin, pass on to a group) because doing so causes more back pain.  After I finished the technique I found my other craft mats all clean, tidy and ready to use in the nearest cupboard to my desk, the one where I am temporarily keeping my tools until my area is organised and I can figure out where I want to keep things lol!

Anyways back to the technique, I smooshed Distress ink pads onto my craft mat, sprayed with water, grabbed some white card and followed the technique.  Along with the Distress colours the card also picked up some silver acrylic paint from a previous project.  Fabulous and awesome technique with a great end result and I’ll be doing this technique on my mucky mat again!

Thank you so much for taking the time to visit and comment.  I really do appreciate it and I hope you get some time to do what you love to do soon ttfn Karen x

Tools & Supplies

Stamp: Stamplorations Trendy Butterflies stamp set

Miscellaneous Tools: heat gun; craft mat; spray bottle filled with water; heart mould; corner rounder punch

Card Paper: 300gsm card; white card snippets

EP Ink/Paint/Pen Colours:

Distress ink pads: Tumbled Glass; Victorian Velvet

White embossing powder #; rub-on wax #

Stickles glitter glue: Frosted Lace

Adhesives/Mediums:

Versamark IP; Collall All Purpose glue; air dry clay

# VOS: very old stash and no idea if still available to purchase, min. 8 years old

Merging a sketch and Rudolph Day ...

Hello my lovely friends and visitors, I hope your week is going well.  Well it is pretty self-explanatory why I am here today, lol, and here it is …

  

A nice A6 flat as can be and yet funny too

A final look

Created for me and especially for these Challenges

Addicted to Stamps & More Challenge #178 Holiday

Crafty Hazel’s Christmas Challenge CHNC265 Use a Sentiment

Creatalicious Challenge #83 Snowflakes

Pixie’s Snippets Playground #213

Rudolph Day at Scrappy Mo’s: anything goes as long as it’s Christmas

Simon Says Stamps Wednesday Challenge Anything Goes

Spectrum Noir Facebook Challenge Anything Goes

Stamplorations Sketch & Theme Challenge I followed the sketch and the theme

Stamplorations Clean and Simple Card Challenge

Winter Wonderland Challenge new: stamps; pens; Stickles glitter glue

I used a set of new stamps I won just before Christmas from the lovely Deepti (thank you so much hun I adore these Santa stamps).  The Spectrum Noir Aqua Pens that were one of my Christmas presents from my wonderful husband.  Please be gentle with me as I am learning and practicing how to use them.  I am having a lot of fun with them and they are awesome for me to use when creating my own art which I hope to share a little more this year. 

I’ve got used to using them as art pens but I need to practice colouring stamped images which means I need to become a little more familiar with using them this way.  I think I’ve used them too heavily to colour this image.  The colours are fabulous, like a great version of a watercolour pen, much better with brighter and juicier colours. 

I will be sharing several tags I have created soon where I’ve incorporated my artwork with stamps and stencils and I hope you will all like them lol!  I need to label my pens so that I know which colours were used and from which set, lol, I didn’t think to do that because I was trying them out with these new stamps and I was happily playing.  I have the same issue with the tags I am going to share the next couple of days, lol, hopefully once I get them labelled and tagged I will be able to come back and update my post with the exact colours I used.

I am also hoping that I will be able to catch up with all my lovely friends this week because I’ve missed seeing all of your amazing creations.  Although I did pop onto one blog yesterday to try and catch up but I was distracted and inspired by that persons art that I had to come off and immediately go and play with my stash lol!  Thank you so much for taking the time to visit and comment.  I really do appreciate it and I hope you get some time to do what you love to do soon ttfn Karen x 

Tools & Supplies

Stamp: Stamplorations stamps: Dee’s Artsy Impressions Santa is Here set

Miscellaneous Tools: paint brushes; pot of water; heat gun

Card Paper: snippet Crafter’s Companion Sheena card to stamp and colour; 300gm card for base

EP Ink/Paint/Pen Colours: Spectrum Noir Aqua Pens; white gesso

Embellishments: Stickles Frosted Lace glitter glue

Adhesives/Mediums: Collall all purpose glue

Tim Time ...

Hello my lovely friends and visitors, I hope your week is going well.  Apologies for such a long absence I have been struggling with a cold I caught at New Year and it’s still not gone completely.  Yesterday was the first time I was able to craft and I was determined to get the 2016 January Re-Mix created and photographed and yay I did it.  Here it is …

  

I had so much fun lol! 

I allowed the inner Goth girl out! 

A final look!

If you want to know the techniques I used go on over to Tim’s blog and take a look yourself.  I was missing several ingredients so I tweaked the recipe by using what I have. 

I had no idea that the chalk technique was originally created by using a stick of chalk or that there is or was a matt embossing powder?  I need matt embossing powder in my life; we don’t always want it to be shining. 

I used a lovely embossing folder that has a repeat key pattern on it.  Instead of using chalk (don’t have any) I used white Pan Pastel over the stamped and embossed image. 

Instead of using matt EP I over heated the EP so that it sunk into the black card a little and it’s not shining (something for me to remember lol)! 

I don’t have word bands so I ferreted through my stash and found thick chipboard die cut alphabet pieces that were ideal for creating a phrase or a word.  The chipboard pieces are a box of stash I had forgotten about that I have been going through since the New Year. 

I recently found some watch parts which I thought would be the perfect embellishment for my take on Tim’s tag.  I was over the moon when I found that I had several glass watch covers in that stash and I knew I had to use it on my take, I am so happy I did because I love it.

The chipboard was an experiment that at first go didn’t quite work because after painting with silver acrylic paint I didn’t want to wait for it to dry so I grabbed my heat tool and dried the acrylic paint.  I knew the paint would bubble because I’ve done that before and love the texture from bubbling thick acrylic paint.  However this time the pink base layer was visible.  Needed to think a little sideways when I realised so once they were cool I tapped with Versamark IP and added black EP (I only have sparkling black but I didn’t mind that as I always love to have a little sparkle lol!

Thank you so much for taking the time to visit and comment.  I really do appreciate it and I hope you get some time to do what you love to do soon ttfn Karen x

Tools 

Stamp: Simon Says Stamps with Tim Holtz 2015 Blueprints special edition stamp set

Die Cutting Machine & Dies: Cuttlebug; Couture Creations key embossing folder

Miscellaneous Tools:  heat tool; paintbrushes; pot of water; spray bottle of water

Supplies

Card Paper: tag; black card; silver craft foil #

EP Ink/Paint/Pen Colours: 

Windsor & Newton Black acrylic paint

Tim Holtz Distress Paint: Weathered Wood

Tim Holtz Distress Stain: Picket Fence

White EP; Cosmic Shimmer Black EP

Pan Pastel: white

Embellishments:

Various watch parts and key #

White organza ribbon# (when I started); black and white twine: thank you Ruza!

Adhesives/Mediums:

Versamark IP; Collall all purpose glue; Ranger Glossy Accents

# VOS: very old stash and no idea if still available to purchase, min. 8 years old

The Carousel starts again ...

Hello my lovely friends and visitors, I hope your weekend is going well.  I am back to creating Christmas cards, once again, the year gets shorter and goes quicker as I get older lol!  I am determined this year that the cards will be created, written and with a stamp on by the end of November this year.  So I’ve a Christmas card to show you today and here it is …

  

A 148mm square card & only one layer of foam

A final look

Created for me and especially for these Challenges
Addicted to Stamps & More Challenge #176 Anything Goes

Craft Stamper Magazine Challenge Take It Make It Take a Stamp

Crafty Hazel’s Christmas Challenge CHNC264 Cute or Anything Goes

Crop Stop Challenge Blog #12 Anything Goes

Inkspirational Challenge Challenge #100 Blast From The Past: 

AG Previous Colour Challenge I picked Anything Goes with Purple 

 Pixie’s Snippets Playground #212

Stamping Sensations Challenge Anything Goes with a Die: I used two!

Sweet Stampin’ Challenge Anything Goes with Wings

Winter Wonderland Challenge Glitter & Shine
Word Art Wednesday Challenge #217 Anything Goes

I stamped Crazy Bird and Santa hat onto white card snippets.  I used Ranger Archival jet black for the bird and Dusty Concord DIP for his hat.  I coloured both of the images with the Beautifully Grunge ATs ( Spectrum Noir AquaTints).  I wanted my bird to be in the die cut circle (which is behind).  I cut, scored and folded an A4 sheet of card to create the base and used purple card that I cut to 140mm square.  I painted where I thought the ground would be beneath the birds feet.  I die cut the purple card and laid it on the card so that I could paint where I wanted the ground to be.  I attached funky foam with DST (double sided tape) to my top layer and positioned it on the card.  I fussy cut the bird and his hat and popped them in the aperture.  Once that was in place I attached the bird and hat with wet glue and then I added Stickles to the hat. 

One of the best things I purchased before Christmas was the Happy Christmas die cut set (made by Crafter’s Companion).  I actually purchased it online from EBay (free P&P).  I have decided that I need to get more of them: they are so easy to use!  I needed an extra shim (piece of paper in my case) but once I did they cut like the proverbial hot knife though butter lol! 

I used snippets to die cut the sentiment twice, coloured with ATs, layer them together and attached to the purple layer.  Once everything was completely dry I let loose with some new gorgeous Stickles (a first necessary after Christmas purchase) and some absolutely gorgeous sequins too (the final necessary after Christmas purchase thank you EBay)!

Thank you so much for taking the time to visit and comment.  I really do appreciate it and I hope you get some time to do what you love to do soon ttfn Karen x

Tools

Stamp:

Tim Holtz: Bird Crazy & Crazy Bird Things stamp sets

Die Cutting Machine & Dies:

Cuttlebug; Crafter’s Companion Die’sire sentiment; Spellbinders Large Classic Circles die set

Miscellaneous Tools:

Paintbrushes; pot of water

Supplies

Card Paper:

148 mm square card blank; snippets for stamping onto

Purple pearl card

EP Ink/Paint/Pen Colours:

Spectrum Noir AquaTints: Beautifully Grunge set

Ranger Archival Jet Black IP

Distress IP: Dusty Concord

Embellishments:

Stickles glitter glue; sequins

Adhesives/Mediums:

Collall all purpose glue; double sided tape; funky foam

Black and white with a smidge of silver ...

Hello my lovely friends and visitors, I hope your week is going well.  I’ve seen some of this month’s challenge and I wanted to play a little lol!  The challenge at Rubber Dance Art Stamps is black and white with a twist and as I choose not to make many black and white cards it was a perfect opportunity for me to push myself so here it is …

 

An A6 card so fun to make, love these stamps

A final look

Created for me and especially for these Challenges

Crafty Calendar Challenge Something New: stamp and embossing folder
 Crop Stop Challenge Blog #11 Anything Goes

Fab N Funky Challenge #286 Something New: stamp and embossing folder 

   Rubber Dance Art Stamps Challenge 

Black and White + one other colour

Simon Says Stamps Wednesday Challenge Something New:  stamp & embossing folder

   Stamping Smiles Designs Tic Tac Toe Challenge 

#1 I chose Sparkles; Embossing; New

The Artistic Stamper Challenge January Anything Goes

Word Art Wednesday Challenge #217 Anything Goes
WOW Embossing Powder Challenge Anything Goes with Embossing Powder

I stamped and embossed the camera onto two pieces of snippets of white card and coloured the first one with shades of black AquaTints.  I didn’t want any white to be visible on the stamped topper so I watered the ink down, a lot (it is a deep dark dense black and it’s only when you water it down that you realise it is made up of other colours)!  Once I coloured the first image I wanted certain areas of the camera to look like glass or metal.  I applied the silver AquaTints but it didn’t look right so I mixed white AquaTints with a small amount of the silver AquaTints.

Thank you so much for taking the time to visit and comment.  I really do appreciate it and I hope you get some time to do what you love to do soon  ttfn Karen x

Tools & Supplies

Stamp:

Simon Says Stamps & Tim Holtz 2015 stamp set

Die Cutting Machine & Dies:

Cuttlebug; Sizzix Moustache embossing folder set

Miscellaneous Tools:

Paintbrushes; heat gun; pot of water

Card Paper:

300 gsm card;

Snippets: embossing folder; stamping and decoupage; DP/PP #

EP Ink/Paint/Pen Colours:

Spectrum Noir AquaTints: Essentials set

Black shimmer EP #

Adhesives/Mediums:

Versamark IP; Collall all purpose glue; funky foam; double sided tape

# VOS: very old stash and no idea if still available to purchase, min. 8 years old

Clean and Simple with shimmer ...

Hello my lovely friends and visitors, I hope your weekend is going well.  I have another CAS card to share today and here it is …

  

  

Another CAS card

A final look

Created for me and especially for these Challenges

As You Like It Challenge Anything Goes

Crafts Galore Encore Challenge #25 Anything Goes 

Pixie’s Snippets Playground #211

Spectrum Noir Facebook Challenge Anything Goes

  Stamping Smiles Designs Tic Tac Toe Challenge 

#1 I chose Shaped Frame; Embossing; Gold

  Stamplorations CAS Challenge #1 Anything Goes 

Optional Twist: I used a silver gel pen to add definition to the stamped flower

Stamplorations Stamps Anything Goes Challenge 

The Artistic Stamper Challenge January Anything Goes

Wednesday’s Creative Inspirations Challenge #342 Floral/s 

I have several white cards that started out as bases for CAS cards but they are mucky with inky fingerprints, ink, paint or whatever medium I have used has ended up on the back of my cards, yes, I am a mucky stamp addict, I’ve learnt to accept and embrace this lol!  I try to create one layer clean and simple cards but I have lots of mucky cards. 

I started out using one of those mucky cards and a snippet of white card.  I used a flower stamp and stamped with very pale ink onto a snippet and coloured the image with my SNATs (Spectrum Noir AquaTints) and that sounds so simple lol!  I coloured just the petals adding a layer of colour and then heat drying that before adding another layer: I love the finished look of light and shadow!  Eventually I moved on to the stem and leaf and the centre of the flower was the final and finishing layer of ink/paint.  Once the whole piece was dry it was missing a little definition so I used my very sparkly Sakura pens, some with silver sparkle, some with gold sparkle and the middle of the flower I used Sakura yellow and orange.  Once the panel was dry I glued it in place onto the inky card and I was able to hide a fingerprint and a splash of paint too.  I then used a medium embossing tool to dry emboss around the panel making it look like a frame.

The wonderful thing about this card is that it looks quite clean and simple in design but a lot of work went into creating it and it took me time to create it.  I enjoyed creating this one and I really enjoyed practicing my colouring with my SNATs: more will be created this way.  Thank you so much for taking the time to visit and comment.  I really do appreciate it and I hope you get some time to do what you love to do soon ttfn Karen x

Tools

Stamp: Stamplorations Stamps: Stamp Lab Large Helenium stamp set

Miscellaneous Tools: Paintbrushes; pot of water; heat gun

Supplies

Card Paper: 300 gsm white card; snippet white card for stamping on

EP Ink/Paint/Pen Colours: 
Spectrum Noir AquaTints: Perfectly Primary; Sakura Sparkle Gel Pens

Adhesives/Mediums: Collall all purpose glue

An old stamp ...

Hello my lovely friends and visitors, I hope your weekend was good and your week has started well.  I’m keeping my fingers crossed that you are warm, dry and safe wherever you are too.  Another CAS card, crumbs I think I might be hooked on them, to share today and here it is …

 

 A6 with some depth, but not too much

A final look

Created for me and especially for these Challenges

Allsorts Challenge #344 What’s New? The die set

Crafty Calendar Challenge Something New: die set 
 Crafty Enjoyments Challenge #3 CAS

 Crop Stop Challenge Blog #11 Anything Goes

Pixie’s Snippets Playground #210
Show Us Your Pussies Cats Only Challenge #2 Furrything Goes

 Simon Says Stamps Monday Challenge Something New: Tim Holtz die set; stamps

Spectrum Noir Facebook Challenge Clean and Simple

Sweet Stamps Challenge January Anything Goes 
The Artistic Stamper Challenge January Anything Goes

I stamped the cat image directly onto a card and then coloured with my Spectrum Noir AquaTints Essentials set.  I stamped a second time onto a snippet of white card and coloured again with the AquaTints.  Whilst they were drying I grabbed a black snippet of card and die cut the ‘friends’ from the die set. 

Thank you so much for taking the time to visit and comment.  I really do appreciate it and I hope you get some time to do what you love to do soon ttfn Karen x

Tools

Stamp:

Claritystamp Ltd #

Machine & Dies:

Cuttlebug; Tim Holtz Sizzix Thinlits die set

Miscellaneous Tools:

Paintbrushes; pot of water

Supplies

Card Paper:

300 gsm card; black snippet

EP Ink/Paint/Pen Colours:

Distress IP: pumice stone

Crafter’s Companion AquaTints inks: Essentials

Adhesives/Mediums:

Collall all purpose glue; double sided tape; fun foam

# VOS: very old stamp no longer on the website