Steampunk Time Flies/Clock Tag

Challenge 44 at Out of a hat creations is 'Clocks' and a few months ago I purchased a new set of stamps by Hampton Art called time flies as I just love the lady with the cog hair, it also has a lovely flying clock. 

I started off with a white card stock tag cut from the Tim Holtz tag die and then added Claudine Hellmuth matte multi-medium covered with Tim Holtz tissue tape rucked up (as in the 12 tags tutorial). Next I ran the tag through my big shot inside the Tim Holtz steampunk texture fade and then spritzed the tag with Dylusions inks and once dry rubbed my gold and silver Ranger adirondack paint dabbers to give the tag a metallic shine. To embellish I added a strip of Tim Holtz film strip using the Tim Holtz tiny attacher. I painted a Tim Holtz weathered clock with the black paint dabber and covered with glossy accents and added black Ranger stickles to the hands before attaching to the tag using a black brad. I stamped a Tim Holtz saying and two of the Hampton Art stamps on to kraft card stock and used distress inks edge. I edged the tag and each stamped piece with black Ranger adirondack paint dabber and highlighted the inside the edge of the tag and saying with my white Sakura gel pen. I covered the face and clock with Ranger crackle paint rock candy and added stardust stickles to the wings of the clock. To add dimension I attached the clock and words using double sided foam tape and added a black ribbon to finish.

Thanks for looking!
Tracey x

Heartbreaker

Miss January's challenge on the Bombshell Stamps blog is 'Heartbreaker' and I think this brings me up to date with my monthly challenges just in time for February on Friday!!

I started by die cutting a white tag from the Tim Holtz die and running it through my big shot inside the Cuttlebug floral fantasy embossing folder which if you look closely contains lots of hearts.  Next I coloured the tag with Tim Holtz barn door distress ink and then rubbed the ink pad directly over the raised image before edging the tag with the Tim Holtz black soot distress ink.  I cut a heart using the Jenni Bowlin journal card as a template and covered with crinkled Tim Holtz terminology tissue wrap cutting a zigzag down the middle before colouring with the barn door and black soot distress ink.  I spritzed the tag and the heart with Tattered Angels marshmallow glimmer mist.  I stamped the Bombshell angel, wings and word banner and then wrote the word on the banner, (I tried to use the digi skirt but haven't quite worked out the printing size yet), I used Tim Holtz tattered rose, brushed corduroy distress ink plus Letraset promarkers to colour the pieces.  I cut a strip of Tim Holtz filmstrip and attached to the tag with Tim Holtz tiny attacher.  I then glued the heart and the wings to the tag and attached the girl on top using silicone glue.  Before adding the banner I cut a 1 1/4 inch circle, coloured in the barn door and black soot inks and then cut a circle just larger than the first in white card stock to highlight.  Finally I added glossy accents to the flowers and outfit, 3 gems and a black ribbon.

Thanks for looking!
Tracey x

Famous Last Words

Oh I do love taking part in these creepy challenges and today I have created something for the second 2013 challenge at Haunted Design House, the theme is 'Famous Last Words'.  I am also entering this into the Sparkle and glitter with rick challenge #8 - 'anything but a square'.

For the coffin shape I cut out the inside of the lid template from the Martha Stewart's coffin treat box, and then I cut another piece just a little bigger than the first.  I coloured both pieces using the Tim Holtz autumn 2011 seasonal distress inks along with the brushed corduroy and black soot.  I ran the smaller shape through my big shot inside the Tim Holtz woodgrain texture fade embossing folder (I had to do it from both ends as my shape is larger than the folder) and then rubbed the gathered twigs distress ink over the raised image.  I stamped the Tim Holtz cob web and spider in 3 places on the larger shape and spritzed both pieces with water and covered with Tim Holtz rock candy crackle paint. Once dry I attached the smaller piece to the larger piece with double sided foam for depth.  Next I printed a reaper digi stamp which I purchased from the Rick St Dennis Etsy Shop and coloured with Letraset promarkers, I attached this to the tag using silicone glue, again to add depth.  For the quote I looked these up on the internet and was amazed at how many are posted and I have chosen one from Kurt Cobain which I printed using the chiller font and inked with the brushed corduroy distress ink before gluing to the coffin.  Finally I attached the piece to cardboard and added a stand at the back to make it sturdy and  free standing.

Thanks for looking!
Tracey x

Favourite Stamp

The January challenge at The Artistic Stamper Creative Team is 'Favourite Stamp'.  Well this is a very difficult one as I have so many stamps that I love and would consider my favourites so I am going to show you a board book I have altered recently using a number of my favourite stamps.

I started by removing the glossy pages leaving just the paper book and then cut paper from the Basic Grey basics manilla paper stack to size and once glued in place I covered each pair of pages with different Dylusions ink sprays before dropping and spritzing water on to them.  Once each page was stamped and highlights added in black and Sakura white gel pens I covered them with Claudine Hellmuth matte multi-medium to make the book durable.

For the front cover I used a selection of stamps from Tim Holtz.

For page 1 and 2 I used a creative expression stencils with Claudine Hellmuth gesso, plus a Dylusions stencil and stamps.

Page 3 and 4 contains my favourite background stamps PaperArtsy mini 56 cup stains and 57 ink splats plus Prima brick wall, and Kaisercraft bubble wrap. I have also used a creative expression chicken wire stencil on this page.

Page 5 and 6 is the turn of Stampotique with a Dylusions sentiment stamp plus some circles made from Ranger adirondack pitch black and snow cap acrylic paint added to the page with the lid.

 Page 7 and 8 includes stamps the lovely water droplets stamp from Ryn, the Hampton Art time flies set, PaperArtsy mini 60 cogs, and a key I received as a gift.

 For the back page I used Tim Holtz stamps again.

Thanks for looking!
Tracey x

Most useful stamp(s)

Challenge 43 at Out of a hat creations is 'Most useful stamp'.  Now this is very difficult as I love background stamps and have lots that I use regularly so for this project I have used 3 that tend to feature on more of my projects than any of the others.  These are all from PaperArtsy and are Mini's 56 (cup stains), 57 (ink splats) and 60 (cogs) and they just make any project look great.

I started by stamping 2 of each of the 3 background minis in black ink on a Tim Holtz die cut tag and then coloured with Tim Holtz gathered twigs and brushed corduroy distress inks before spritzing with Dylusions London blue ink spray and edged with Tim Holtz black soot distress ink.  I then spritzed the tag with water and once dry covered with Tim Holtz rock candy crackle paint.  I added a piece of the Tim Holtz film strip attached with the Tim Holtz tiny attacher.  Next I stamped the Tim Holtz balloon and air mail stamps onto cream card stock and again inked with the Tim Holtz distress ink before adding barn door with my water brush and spritizing water through the Dylusions dotted flowers stencil.  Finally I added some highlights of white with the Sakura gel pen and attached to the tag with silicone glue.

Thanks for looking!
Tracey x

'C' is for Creative

The second letter in the The Craft Barn alpha challenge is 'C' and I immediately knew that I wanted to use the word 'Creative'.  I am finding this challenge difficult as Creative journaling is something I have always wanted to try and although I have a Dylusions journal I haven't felt confident enough to start the first page yet and I think that if there is one thing this challenge is teaching me, it's that I need to practice so hopefully I'll find my way by the last letter!!

As with the first challenge, I started with the 6x7 inch white card stock base and punched the 2 holes to the right this time.  I glued down my torn out dictionary page and then spritzed the whole piece with water before using a number of Dylusions spray inks, this time remembering to cover my word so that it didn't get covered in ink.  I edged the whole page with Tim Holtz gathered twigs distress ink.  Next I used PaperArtsy background stamps, firstly mini 56 (cup stains) which I stamped in black ink.  Next I stamped the mini 57 (ink splats) in embossing powder and heated in black embossing powder.  I also used the Tim Holtz Creativity stamp plus the same alphabet as the last page.  Now I'm not good a drawing but have attempted a side view of a head to which I added bleach inside and then words associated to my chosen word.  I also drew a light bulb with a question mark inside and I covered it with Ranger rock candy stickles.  I added splats of Tim Holtz picket fence distress stain and added a section over which I added my statement on black card stock.  I punched some jigsaw pieces and added a letter from the word to each piece before attaching to the page.  Finally I added doodles using black and white pens and covered the dictionary word with glossy accents.

Thanks for looking!
Tracey x

'V' is for Vampire

This is my first time joining in with a challenge at The Craft Barn but these guys have been on my radar for a long time and it's one of those places that I wish I lived close to as they have  a great DT and hold some great classes/workshops.  Anyway the new challenge for 2013 is an alpha challenge and first up is the 'Letter  V', I have been thinking about this since it was posted and I have chosen 'Vampire'.  Now it has taken me ages to look for an old dictionary to alter and in the end someone purchased me a new one, sadly it is only pocket size so instead of altering the dictionary pages in place I have decided to tear my pages out and create my own book.

I started by cutting a piece of white card stock just larger than my dictionary page so 6x7 inches, this will be the size of my book pages and each challenge start with the same size card stock.  Next I added Tim Holtz gathered twigs distress ink round the edges of my torn dictionary page before gluing it to the background at an angle.  I spritzed the whole piece with Dylusions post box red ink spray, unfortunately I wasn't as good with my spraying and it covered the word I am using!  I distress the edge with black soot distress ink and left my background to dry before spritzing water through the Dylusions dotted flowers stencil.  Once dry I covered the dots with the stencil again and with my Sakura white gel pen drew the outline of the dots.  As this challenge will create a number of pages in my book I have decided to keep my pages flat in true journal style, this is a challenge for me as I love depth on my projects.  I stamped the Stampotique Angel as my main image and then added the Tim Holtz cobweb and spider.  I added more circles using my Ranger adirondack black and snow cap acrylic paint dabbers and lids.  I doodled around the 'Vampire' entry in the dictionary before covering with Ranger glossy accents and then added some lines round the edges of the page.  I covered the remaining space on my page with Tim Holtz picket fence distress stain and once dry I added a 'V' die cut from the Tim Holtz vintage market and then added my words both written and stamped on to black card stock, I used a red pen to add some spooky dripping blood from the words.  Finally I punched 2 holes using my crop-a-dile big bite.

Thanks for looking!
Tracey x

Feeling Blue Recycled Board Book

For today's post I am showing you something I created during a weekend crafting retreat back in November.  The idea was to alter Children's board books which had been purchased from Charity shops prior to the weekend and this was the first project I made using a small size book.  As you will notice I haven't completed the project yet and still need to add photos and journaling.  Of course, I've forgotten to take a before photo.  Anyway I am going to submit this to the following January challenges:
Happy Daze 'Recycled'.
Tando-Creative 'Feeling Blue'.

I started by removing the glossy top coat on each page and the outside to leave the rough paper surface.  Next for the inside of my book I cut some printed text paper to size and coloured using Tim Holtz faded jeans distress ink and then spritzed with Dylusions London blue spray ink.  Once dry I stamped a few of my favourite background stamps in black ink, these are PaperArtsy mini 56 (cup rings), mini 57 (ink splats), mini 60 (cogs) plus Prima brick wall, Kaisercraft bubble wrap and a key which I was given as a gift. I added touches of Sakura white pen to highlight the images and added hand drawn lines in white and black pen around the edge of the pages. I adhered the paper to the book using Claudine Hellmuth multi-medium and once dry I covered the pages with the same to seal and give a matte look. For the outside of the book I covered it using denim. Now I had a little help from the tutor, Moira for this as I am not an accomplished seamstress although I wish I was.  We cut the piece of denim to size and backed it to a piece of bondaweb then using the sewing machine I went round the edge with black thread to stop the edges from fraying.  I added two strips of blue material down the piece using the same zig-zag stitch.  For my main embellishment I coloured some pelmet vilene with the Dylusions ink spray, stamped a script in black ink and then spritzed with Tattered Angels marshmallow glimmer mist.  Once dry I ran the piece through my Big Shot using the Tim Holtz tattered florals die and attached it to my book cover using a silver brad.  Once ready I adhered it to my board book using the Claudine Hellmuth multi-medium again but adding a book mark and ties from the same material as the strip on the front before sticking it down.  Finally I attached a silver crown charm to the book mark material strip to finish.

Thanks for looking!
Tracey x

Prom Queen

I was very disappointed to read that the Poisoned Peas Please challenge blog has now closed and was looking for another same style challenge to take part in when I stumbled across the Haunted Design House blog whilst looking at Mark's blog (I had seen his work on a few challenges I watch/take part in).  Now I just love the creepy and Stampotique Original stamps fit the bill nicely.  I have a growing number in my collection and Prom Queen is one of my favourites and when she arrived I couldn't wait to create a tag which although a bit cute I am entering into the Haunted Design House Macabre Monday #158 Freaker's Free for All'.  This is my first time playing along here and I believe I have obeyed the rules.

Another love of mine is creating tags so I started by inking my Tim Holtz die cut tag with Dylusions spray inks and then created the ghosting effect background by sprizing water through a Crafter's Workshop chicken wire stencil.  I added circles using the lid and gold and silver Ranger acrylic paint dabbers, a black pen line around the edge of the tag and then stamped PaperArtsy mini 57 (splatters) on the tag using embossing ink and heated with black embossing powder.  Next I stamped the Stampotique prom queen and hanging hearts and then I bleached the inside of the stamps to return the images back to white card stock before using Tim Holtz distress inks and my water brush to colour the images.  I covered the hearts with glossy accents and used a white gel pen to highlight the string.  I added an appropriate sentiment and again covered with glossy accents.  Finally I attached a ribbon in a colour to match the dress.

Thanks for looking!
Tracey x

Hatter's Bingo

Challenge 42 at Out of a hat creations is 'Hatter's Bingo' and I decided to do the right hand column of the card which includes a Hat, Button, Text and Stamp.

For this challenge I based the hat on a post on the Seeing Things blog.  I love Regina's creations and love the shape of the top hat with it being larger at the top than the bottom in true mad hatter style. The blog post includes the links to the template plus other items used by Regina to create her 'mad hatter meets Christmas' hats which are beautiful, please take a moment to go and look.

I downloaded the template and cut out the 3 pieces in black card stock before stamping the Tim Holtz flourish in embossing powder and heated with black embossing powder.  Next I glued the 3 pieces together and added a red ribbon.  I created the 10/6 ticket from cream card stock and inked the edges with Tim Holtz barn door distress ink.  Finally I attached 2 red hat pins, a red button and a gem.

I'm very excited as this is the first photo taken using my new light tent. I'm hoping that it helps with my blog photo's going forward, especially this time of year. I think it will take some playing with my camera settings to get it right so it's time to get my DSLR out instead of using my pocket camera.

Thanks for looking!
Tracey x

A Birthday Card for Tim Holtz!

I have been watching the goings on over at Studio L3 for a long time now and as you all know I am a huge Tim Holtz and Ranger Ink fan and although I have not found the time to play along in the Compendium of Curiosities challenges, the current one is the finale: 'A birthday card for Tim Holtz' who celebrates his birthday tomorrow.  Now how could I pass this one by and I hope that Tim has a wonderful birthday, he really does deserve to enjoy a great day!!!!

I decided to use the techniques for Texture Fade and Kraft Resist on my card and have to admit that my finished card is much darker than I intended but it does reflect my love of brown, grunge and all things Tim!

I started with a piece of the kraft resist paper stash to make my card base and inked the edges with brushed corduroy distress ink.  Next I put a piece of plain kraft card stock through my big shot inside the steampunk texture fade embossing folder and inked with the brushed corduroy, gathered twigs, barn door, mustard seed and faded jeans distress inks.  I then cut 2 strips of the kraft resist and inked with the same colours and stamped the smaller piece with the curiosity stamp in black.  I added a brad and attached both pieces to the side of my card.  I attached a length of film strip across the bottom with my tiny attacher then stamped the admit one ticket onto kraft card stock, inked and covered with rock candy crackle paint and attached to the card using double sided foam.  I stamped my main sentiment onto kraft glassine, inked the edges and crumpled the paper before placing on the card.  I attached a 'January' month from the tissue tape to kraft card stock, inked and attached to the background with a mini paperclip.  Finally I added the happy birthday sentiment and used the district market die to cut out Tim's name and covered with glossy accents.

Thanks for looking!
Tracey x

Tea Party

The current challenge at Simon says stamp and show is 'The totally mad (no rules) tea party' and this week's challenge over at Out of a hat creations is number 41 'Hatters Tea Party' to which they are asking for an RSVP to their invite to join the fun.  Now I have a lovely set of Alice in Wonderland stamps from Oxford Impression which I ordered a long time ago but have never used so here is my opportunity.

I started by finding a top hat template online, which I printed cut out and covered with a textured black paper as I do not (believe it or not) have a black distress ink yet.  Next I cut a strip of cardstock and covered with red tissue paper and red ribbon and stapled it to the hat background with the Tim Holtz tiny attacher, I coloured the staples with red alcohol ink.  It felt weird not creating my own background for this challenge and I have to admit that this different approach stumped me as to where to go next so I stamped the hatter, tea pot and envelope from my new stamp set plus a Tim Holtz clock.  Next I created a playing card and printed my acceptance wording.  I inked all 6 pieces with Tim Holtz brushed corduroy, gathered twigs and barn door distress inks.  I covered the clock with Tim Holtz rock candy distress crackle paint and used a red pen and Ranger glossy accents and a red gem to add highlights to the pieces.

Thanks for looking!
Tracey x