The Walking Dead

Today is something a bit different and sees my second entry into the Poisoned Peas monthly challenge, this time the theme is 'The Walking Dead'.

I started off by choosing my first ever digi image which came from the Rick St Dennis Etsy shop, I'm sure she's not to everyone's taste but I just love her.  I printed the image, cut her out and coloured her with a mixture of Tim Holtz distress inks applied with my water brush and Letraset promarkers before adding Ranger glossy accents to the sash, headdress and bracelet.  For the background I ran the Tim Holtz die cut tag through my Sizzix big shot inside the Tim Holtz bricked texture fade.  Next I coloured the tag using Tim Holtz distress inks and Dylusions inks spray.  I stamped the Tim Holtz cityscape at the bottom of the tag and then added my handwritten sentiment on the wall in Sakura white gelly pen before adding a black ribbon and attaching the image using foam pads.

Thanks for looking!
Tracey x

Altered Gift Wrapping Tube

During my crafting weekend at Belstead House we celebrated the upcoming milestone birthday of one of our friends. A beautiful display of cupcakes was presented, each one sitting on an approximately 2" length of cardboard wrapping paper inner tube which had been covered in white paint and had music stamped on to it.  As we chose our cake, we were challenged to alter the base it sat on during the weekend.

I started by covering the tube with Tim Holtz brushed corduroy distress ink and then spritzing some Dylusions chocolate spray ink onto my craft mat and rolled the tube through it and then finally spritzed Tattered Angels marshmallow glimmer mist. Next I cut a kraft cardstock circle just bigger that the tube which I attached to the bottom and another one the same size as the tube to sit on the top which effectively created a mini top hat. Next I added faux stitching in black pen to the edge of the top hat brim before covering the whole piece in Claudine Hellmuth matt multi-medium. As this was our last weekend at Belstead House due to its imminent closure I used that as my theme. I punched a couple of tickets and love hearts in kraft cardstock and wrote my sentiments and faux stitching before covering with Tim Holtz rock candy crackle paint. I attached the first ticket to the side of the hat and attached the other 2 pieces to acetate and stood them up on the top of the top hat. I then cut a Tim Holtz elegant flourishes in sticky backed cork and added it to the other side of the top hat. I cut 3sets of Tim Holtz tattered florals in Glassine paper and leaving the largest flower out, I distressed the 9 remaining flowers by scrunching them and covering with distress ink and glimmer mist, I attached them together with a gold brad and added them to the top of the top hat. Finally each of our cup cakes had a friend quote flag  in the top and mine says 'A friend is someone who reaches for your hand and touches your heart', I inked the paper quote and the cocktail stick it was attached to and poked into the top of the top hat.

I am entering this piece into this week's Out of a Hat Creations challenge 35 - Music. I think I might be stretching it a bit this week but hopefully it qualifies although the music stamping is now rather hidden by my inking and distressing but if you look closely you can just about make it out.

To give you an idea, this is how the tube started out.

Thanks for looking!
Tracey x

Faces

This month the challenge over at Happy Daze Design Team Bog is 'Brighten Up The Month', I was also going to put this on Hels Sheridan's weekly challenge but I'm too late.  I am posting to the challenge late in the month as not to spoil the surprise but I am combining this with a piece I have created for a project with some friends from my Kesgrave craft club.  This weekend we have been at our final annual weekend at Belstead House, the council are selling the adult learning centre so our crafty retreat is no more...well until we can find somewhere new that is.  For this we have each created a 6x6 (7x7 with edges) fabric piece which was sewn together during the weekend to create a hanging before being presented to the Lady who hosts/teaches the weekends.

I started by cutting a piece of 7x7 Claudine Hellmuth sticky back canvas and backing it with a piece of old cotton pillow case.  Next I spritzed the canvas with Dylusions inks and Tattered Angels marshmallow glimmer mist.  I stamped Dylusions leaves and flowers in Stazon ink to create my background and highlighted with my Sakura white gelly roll pen.  Next I stamped a very appropriate Dylusions quote and the face on to a plain piece of the canvas, cut out and stuck to the background.  I highlighted aspects with Ranger stickles and pens.

Thanks for looking!
Tracey x

Wings

The Tando Creative Challenges November theme is 'Wings.  I started by cutting a tag using the Tim Holtz tag die and coloured it by spritzing a few Dylusions ink sprays.  I stamped PaperArtsy mini 56 and KaiserCraft bubble wrap stamps.  Next I heated Stampendous frantage embossing powders and mica fragments and then stamped Tim Holtz wings in embossing ink and heated using white detailed embossing powder.  I attached the tag to black card stock to provide a border and added a ribbon.  Finally I wrote my sentiment in white pen on black card stock and backed it on to white card stock.

Thanks for looking!

Tracey x

Locks and Keys / Use some of your stash

So due to my busy week last week I didn't get to spend any time in my craft room and was disappointed not to participate in the weekly blog challenge over at Out of a hat Creations.  In light of this I have decided to combine last week with this week and my piece covers both
Challenge #33 - Locks and Keys plus Challenge #34 - Use some of your stash.

I started with an old wooden embellishment box which was going free at the Bramford crop a couple of months ago, I picked one up for each of the Bramford girls as a side challenge so it will be interesting to see what everyone else has done with theirs, and strangely enough one has been altered in this month's Craft Stamper magazine too.  I removed one of the dividing walls and painted the box with snow cap Adirondack acrylic paint.  Once dry I touched the top surface with silver and gold dabbers and then cut squares from the Tim Holtz kraft resist paper stash and edged with Tim Holtz brushed corduroy distress ink.  I stamped Stampotique Originals hanging hearts across the top 3 squares and coloured with barn door distress ink and my water brush, I also stamped a small key on to the other 5 pieces before gluing all 7 pieces into the box.  Next I filled each square with glossy accents into which I placed red hearts, small metal keys, Craftynotions stellar flash and the hand-written sentiment.  Finally I attached a lock at the top of the box and threaded a ribbon to make the hanger.

Thanks for looking!
Tracey x

My day with Hels

It seems ages since my last post and although I had a busy week last week I've had plenty of time in my craft room this weekend.  Now all I have to do is to blog all of the new projects (this part seems to take me as long as the actual projects they detail).

Anyway last weekend I attended a Hels Sheridan workshop at Birds in the Barn with 3 of my crafty friends from the Bramford Crop.  This is us with Hels (I'm in blue), and yes she is as lovely as you'd imagine.



Well we enjoyed a great day, we arrived early and not knowing what we were going to make but it turned out to be a festive mini book called 'The Cardinal of Christmas'.  There was lots of stamping and colouring which I enjoyed, everyone was friendly and there was an opportunity to shop before and after the class. I will definitely be watching the workshop list for future classes.

This post is photo heavy but this is how my book turned out:

Thanks for looking!
Tracey x

I Love My Attitude

The Stamp Man November Challenge theme is 'Emboss it'. 

I created a tag using white card stock and the Tim Holtz tag die cut and then ran it through my Big Shot inside the Tim Holtz bricked texture fade to give my dry embossing effect.  I used barn door and gathered twigs distress inks and then spritz with Dylusions spray inks and water to give a grunge look.  I stamped a couple of Tim Holtz stamps lightly on the wall again to give a grunge look.  I stamped PaperArtsy splatter stamp in embossing ink, covered with black embossing powder and heated with my heat gun.  I went round a couple of arrows with a Sakura white gel pen and covered in glossy accents.  Next I stamped Stampotique Twinkie and coloured using distress inks applied with a water brush, once dry I covered with Tim Holtz rock candy distress crackle paint and attached to the tag with silicone glue.  For my sentiment I wrote 'I love my attitude' in the style of a graffiti tag and again coloured with distress inks and a water brush, I outlined the words with the white gel pen and stapled it to the tag with the Tim Holtz tiny attacher.  Finally I wrote a 'Twinkie woz here 2012' on the wall. 

Thanks for looking!
Tracey x

Nature / Thankful

The October Bramford Girls challenge/swap was set by Janina and she gave us a hanging consisting of 3 paper mache round circle frames.  I am also entering the hanging frames project into the following blog challenges:
Out of a hat creations challenge 32 - Nature
Inspiration Emporium November challenge - Thankful

I started by taking the fronts off the frames and then using kraft card stock I ran 3 circles through my big shot inside the Tim Holtz woodgrain texture fade and then coloured using gathered twigs distress ink.  I attached each circle to the back of each circle frame.  Next I spritzed the fronts of each circle with Dylusions ink sprays in autumn colours, then water, then Tattered Angels marshmallow glimmer mist.  Once dry I reattached to the backs using silicone glue.  I covered each frame with Claudine Hellmuth matt multi-medium and edges with white Sakura gel pen and a touch of gold Ranger adirondack acrylic paint dabber.  I cut 12 leaves using Tim Holtz glassine paper using the Tim Holtz mini tattered leaves which I then inked with gathered twigs distress ink, I also added pen lines in black to look like veins. I added the leaves to the edge of each frame and spritzed with the marshmallow glimmer mist.  I've lost one leaf somewhere in my craft room so the middle frame only has 3!

Frame 1 - I cut the three autumn months from the Tim Holtz tissue tape and backed it on to kraft card stock, edged with the gathered twigs distress ink and covered with Ranger rock candy distress crackle paint.  I stamped a Stampin'Up scarecrow in brown ink on to kraft card stock and added touches of colour using Tim Holtz distress inks.

Frame 2 - I found a lovely quote online which I wrote on a Tim Holtz ticket, again edged with inks and the white gel pen and covered with the rock candy.

Frame 3 -   I added the Tim Holtz bird from the caged bird die which was covered in paper and spritzed with chocolate Dylusions spray ink then edged with gathered twigs distress ink and gold Ranger adirondack acrylic paint dabber.

Thanks for looking!
Tracey x

Steampunk Masquerade Mask

I have had this project in my mind for a while now and I finally got a chance to create it a couple of weekends ago.  I have been wanting to blog this post ever since but couldn't as it was for a masked 40th party I attended last night.  I am entering my mask into the The Artistic Stamper Creative Team November Challenge which is 'Anything Goes'.

I started by covering a cheap paper mache mask base with Tim Holtz terminology tissue wrap paper using Claudine Hellmuth matt multi-medium.  Next I spritzed the mask with chocolate Dylusions ink spray and then rubbed Adirondack gold paint dabber over the top of the dry ink to give a more metallic look.  I then stamped PaperArtsy cogs on opposite sides diagonally and added some Lakeland gold mesh in the opposite diagonal corners, and once complete I covered the mask base with multi-medium.  To embellish I used a 7 Gypsies spy glass, Tim Holtz spinner, sprockets and gears, foliage plus small watch parts and other various charms including a wing, I also added all of these with glossy accents.  I attached a clock charm to the spy glass.  Finally I punched 2 holes on each side, added eyelets and threaded ribbon through so that the mask can be attached to my glasses.

Thanks for looking!
Tracey x