Week 5 - 52 Week Mini Art Card / Tag Challenge 2018

It's Sunday again, so time to get the thinking caps on for the coming week.

The prompt for Week 5 is "Silhouette".  I think this prompt should allow you to create in lots of different directions.  I sat down for an afternoon and created these four tags as examples. Each one fills the brief but is quite different too.

All four tags have a bakground of Tim Holts Distress Inks and Oxide Inks. I've used a white Signo pen on three of the tags.

For this tag I used a floral stamp from a Stamper's Anonymous set.  I filled the background with a Creative Expression stamp called "Hexagon Script".

For this "Full Moon" tag, I used a mask with a circle to create the moon, shading it with Cosmic Shimmer Colour Cloud Blending Ink in "White Clouds" shade.  The tree is part of a Stampin' Up set called "Sheltering Tree".  I used a Brother label maker for the "full moon" text.

For this cat tag, I used Distress Oxides on a page from an old hymn book.  I used a Penny Black stamp called "Skyward".  The cat was cut using a Poppy Stamps die called "Large Sitting Cat".

Finally, I used stamps which I don't recall the name of for this Winter Birds tag.  A mix of Distress and Oxides were used for the background and the edges were inked heavily.

I hope you have a great week.  Sam x

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Just as a reminder, anybody can take part in this challenge.  There is an active Facebook Group where you can upload your tag/card and chat to other members about the challenge.

There is no pressure, you do what you can, when you can.  I usually post the prompt for the next week on a Sunday afternoon/evening or a Monday morning.

The previous prompts for this year and last year can be found by clicking the button to the right hand side of the "home" button just below the title of this blog.

Take A Seat (Steam Punk Style) Tag

Yesterday, I sat down at my desk to craft with a total blank mind.  I went through my scraps of paper and found a piece of red mottled paper and covered a tag.  I then took a script and music stamp and stamped a couple of areas.  I then inked a couple of the corners.

Next, I die cut some cogs and then inked them in browns and rust colours.  I found an off cut of a paper tape measure and inked it in the same colours. I then stuck them down.

I found part of an old ticket, inked it and stuck it to the left.  I die cut a couple of numbers and stamped an hand with a finger pointing.  Finally, I used a Tim Holtz paper doll, coloured in his face and the waistcoat with Promarkers and then stuck him down.  

For this tag I really struggled as it felt I was totally out of my comfort zone.

Dachshund Birthday Card

Our little smiler, Jacob, our Grandson, will be two years old in a couple of weeks.  I'd had an idea in my head of the card I wanted to make and this evening I decided to put it together.

I'd purchased a set of Hobby Art stamps (called Dogz CS130D) with assorted breeds of dogs on.  As a child, I grew up with a Dachshund so it kind of seemed natural to go with that for this card.

I stamped the dog, coloured it with Promarkers and then cut it out.  I cut a strip of grey cardstock and stuck it to the base of the card to mimic a pavement. I then used a stamp (I think it may be from a Pennyblack set) for the grass.

On checking my stamps, I found the buzzy bee, it's one I've had for a while, so I don't recall where it came from, but I stamped it on the top right of the card, again colouring with Promarkers.

For the balloon, I used a Stampin' Up set called "Party This Way" and stamped in Ranger Adirondack Bright, Citrus.  Using a Tim Holtz Distress Ink and a wet paintbrush I painted the streaky sky.  I added a couple of clouds and a string to the balloon.

Using a Papertrey Ink stamp from their "Stylish Sentiments" set I stamped the "Happy Birthday".  Finally, I stuck the coloured image of the dog and added a googly eye.

Witch Paper Doll Tag

I've played with a tag this afternoon.

The background is a mix of Distress Inks and oxides, using a Signo pen to make the white dots.  I've had a selection of skeleton leaves which I'd not used, so decided to use some on this tag, however the delicate nature of the leaves meant that they didn't show up on the coloured background, so I mounted them on black card and cut around them.  I then used a Tim Holtz paperdoll image of a couple of witches to layer on top of the leaves.

I used Hobby Arts andStamper's Anonymous stamps for the background, with sticky black gems and alpha letters to create the "Witch" word.

Week 4 - 52 Week Mini Art Card / Tag Challenge 2018

The prompt for Week 4 is "Home".  I thought this would be quite a versatile prompt that can be interpreted in several ways.

Just a reminder, that anybody can take part in this challenge.  There is an active Facebook group where you can upload your tag/card and talk to other members who are taking part.  There is no pressure, you do what you can, when you can.  I usually post the weekly prompts on a Sunday afternoon/evening or a Monday morning, it depends what I am up to.  The previous prompts can be found by clicking on the button to the right hand side of the "home" button, just below the title of the blog.

For this week, I have made two samples on the theme of "Home".

For the top tag with the houses, I started by using a chevron stencil and Tim Holtz Distress inks in shades of "Spun Sugar" and "Victorian Velvet" to give the pink shades.  I then cut out a section of patterned papers with houses on and coloured  the central house in pink.  I cut the edges staggered to add interest to the tag.  Using my Brother P-touch gadget, I printed out "Our House In The Middle of Our Street" in four sections and stuck it down.  I die cut the arrow and coloured it with a Promarker and adhered it pointing to the central pink house.  I added a dotted edge to the tag using a black pen and some sticky adhesive gems to add some interest to the plain chevron area.

For the second tag with the tree.  I started by using two Distress inks with a moist paintbrush and created the blue background.  I drew the tree on a piece of brown cardstock and then coloured it with Promarkers before positioning and sticking to the tag.  For the nest and birds, I used stamps that came free with a magazine.  I stamped onto white card and again coloured with Promarkers and then cut them out. 

The Time Traveler Tag

This week has been hard going as I've picked up a cough and cold and feel totally rubbish.  I've not felt like crafting or thinking about it.  This evening I sat at my desk and made a tag.  It's not my best work, but it felt good to be creating again.

I've used a background of Distress and Oxide inks.  The man is a Stamper's Anonymous stamp from their set called "Time Travelers - CMS157" coloured with Promarkers. I don't recall where I got the clock face stamps from. I used a Signo white pen for the shirt collar.

Week 3 - 52 Week Mini Art Card / Tag Challenge 2018

The prompt for Week 3 is "Pond Life".

Just a reminder, that anybody can take part in this challenge.  There is an active Facebook group where you can upload your tag/card and talk to other members who are taking part.  There is no pressure.  You do what you can, when you can.  I usually post the new prompts on a Sunday or Monday, depending on what I'm up to. The previous prompts can be found by clicking on the tab next to the "Home" button, just below the title.  

For my tag, I attempted to replicate the sparkly-ness of a pond when the light catches the water.  I started by using Distress Oxide inks to create the background of the tag.

I use a Memorybox die called "Honeycomb Background" to cut the black cardstock.  I decided I would leave some of the shapes in and remove others and stuck it over the coloured background.  Using a Stampin' Up stamp from the "By The Tide" set, I added a couple of areas of stamping text.

I then moved on to die stamp and die cut the dragonfly, using the Stampin' Up set called "Dragonfly Dreams" and "Detailed Dragonfly Thinlits".  I finally added some pretty shimmery sequins to add to the water look.

Decay Tag

Crafting the past few days has been a bit thin on the ground.  It's as if I'm all crafted out.  I couldn't sleep so got up early, sat at my craft desk and pondered, resulting in this very grunge looking tag. 

I had prepared the background some time ago,using Gesso through a brick work stencil.  I accelerated the drying time by using a heat gun.  Once dry, I then rubbed a mix of yellow and green ink across the surface, which left the majority of the white Gesso exposed.

I added some weeds using a Hobby Art stamp from their "Dandelion Wishes" set.  The cracks in the wall and the cat were both stamps from a Visible Image set called "Create It".  I then inked the edges in shades of beige, red and black.  Finally, I used my new Christmas gadget, Brother P-touch H100LB label maker to create the words.

Tumbled / Lapidary Sea Glass

I have a mirror with a thick pine frame.  Unfortunately, there is a tiny crack in one corner of the mirror itself.  I'd been trying to think if there was a way to disguise the crack and came up with the idea of creating a design with beach glass stuck to the mirror.

While walking the dog on the beach, I have been collecting sea glass, but it's not something that always seems to be about so my collection is quite small.  

I saw something to suggest you could tumble glass to get the same look.  For several months, I mentioned this to Hubby and I wasn't sure if it fell on deaf ears or not.  But for my birthday in December, he gave me a lapidary / tumbler along with different grades of grit, so that I could tumble my own glass.  My Lapidary tumbler has two barrels.  

At the weekend we set the barrels up in the garage and left them to tumble.  Today when we checked both the blue and the clear glass had frosted nicely and the edges were all rounded.  I need to now start sourcing unusual coloured bottles so that I can put them through the same process.

I think it will be quite some time till I have enough for my mirror project, but I'm sure it will look fabulous once complete.

Week 2 - 52 Week Mini Art Card / Tag Challenge 2018

There has been a fabulous response to the start of the 2018 challenge.  You can see the tags made by checking out the Facebook group.  The prompts for previous weeks and the ones for the 2017 challenge can be found by clicking the button to the right of the "home" button below the blog title. You are more than welcome to join in this challenge.  There is no pressure, do as much or as little as you like.

The prompt for Week 2 is "Vintage / shabby".  I wanted to leave it quite loose so that you don't feel under too much pressure.

Here's my example for the Week 2 prompt.  I had a few ideas in my head about what I wanted to include for this tag.

Firstly I started with a section of cotton weave canvas which I inked, scrunched then re-inked and then ironed flat.  I then got a cream coloured tag and inked the edges in darker shades.  I used a little tool to distress the edges a little too.  

I have never used my sewing machine on a papercrafting project, but decide to ring the changes and sew the canvas layer onto the distressed tag, (I deliberately made the stitching quite rough and did not adjust the tension so it wasn't very even).  I then stamped some text and also used a coral/seaweed stamp from a Stampin' Up set called "By The Tide".

At this stage, I paused for a few hours as I couldn't formulate how I wanted to move forward. Firstly, I layered and stuck down two layers of lace with a frayed end, down the middle of the tag. I found a section of an old die cut in red and positioned it at the top of the tag.

I decided to die cut a wreath using Stampin' Up "Swirly Scribbles" die.  I punched some foliage using a Martha Stewart punch and found some small white paper roses in my stash.

I stamped the bird (I'm not sure what the stamp set is as I purchased it second hand) and then coloured it in using Promarkers.  I then positioned it with sticky foam pads on top of the wreath so it has a 3D look.  Finally, I knotted some thread through a wooden heart shaped button and then stuck it down.

I hope you enjoy the challenge.  Have a good week.  Sam x

Stamper's Anonymous Mini Bouquet and Oxide Ink Card

I have continued with playing with the Oxide inks and spritzing the stamped image, creating this card using Stamper's Anonymous "Mini Bouquet" stamp set, Tim Holtz Oxide Inks and a Papertrey Ink sentiment from their "Signature Greetings" stamp set.

Distress Oxide Seed Head Card and Tag

As crafters, sometimes we have difficulty turning off our thoughts.  I had one of those situations today.  I had planned to work on something totally different and had a blinding idea that I had to try out.

I am relatively new to using the Tim Holtz Distress Oxide inks, so I'm still learning about the way they work and how to get the best out of them. 

I had an idea of getting a smudged look to stamped images using the oxide inks, so decided to see how it worked in practice.  I used a Stamper's Anonymous stamp for the seed heads and a Stampin' Up stamp from their "Iconic Occasions" set for the sentiment.  I added a water colour wash for the sky. I'm really happy with the way it has turned out, so I made a card and a tag out of the practice piece.

This is the practice piece which I was able to cut down to make the card and tag.

Dance To It Tag

I played with the stamps that came with the Creative Stamping magazine (issue 52), again this morning and made this tag.

It has an oxide ink background.  In hindsight I should have used the normal Distress Inks as I would have got a more vibrant colour instead of the muted shades I ended up with, but we live and we learn.  All the stamps are from the magazine set and have been stamped using Versafine ink.  I've also used some green Stickles glitter glue to lift the colour a little.

Guitar Birthday Card (Oxide Inks)

I have several cards to make between January and February so thought I'd better get cracking.

I was inspired by some stamps that came free with Issue 52 of Creative Stamping magazine, (lots of music related stamps) and decided to at least knock one card of my list of makes.

I created the background using Tim Holtz Distress Oxide inks.  I stamped the guitar using a Versafine ink.  The red circles are a Stamper's Anonymous stamp.  The sentiment is a Stampin' Up stamp from their "Sale-a-bration Big Day" set.

Here's the front cover of the Creative Stamping magazine and the stamps that come with it.

Reading Challenge - Goodreads 2017 Update

Each year I take part in the Goodreads reading challenge, 2017 was no different. 

I set myself a total of 50 books to read.  On checking my total, I see I actually read 76 books, so I am pretty impressed with that.  

For 2018 I have set the same total of 50 books for the year as I don't want to put myself under pressure.

Do you take part in the Goodreads challenge?

Take Flight Oxide Ink Tag

Today I made a quick tag using the Tim Holtz Distress Oxide Inks to create a beautiful background that lends itself to a skyscape.  I used a  Penny Black cling stamp called "Skyward" for the trees and a Bee Crafty stamp called "Winged Things" for the birds.  

I created the "Take Flight" title by using a new gadget I received for Christmas.  A Brother P-touch H100LB label maker. It's the first time I've used it, so I'm finding out what it can do, but I can see its versatility, especially if I don't have a stamp with the words I need.  (I used  a tape with black lettering on a clear background, using the "shadow" font).