Things With Wings ATC Swap

This is an ATC swap from a while ago which never made it to the blog.

When the theme was announced for this swap 'Things With Wings', I knew I had to use this butterfly stamp from Crafty Individuals (CI-347).

This was the first time out for the Distress Markers, they were were used for watercolouring the butterfly image which was stamped with sepia Versafine ink.

The backgrounds were prepared with a collage of stamps; script, lettering, alliums and postmarks, using post-its as a mask in sepia Versafine ink.  Brown colours of Distress Ink and a co-ordinating colour to the butterfly flourishes were added from a craft mat.  Once dry 'splats' were added from a brown colour Distress Stain.

The butterfly stamps were trimmed and mounted on the cards with dimensional glue.  A final embellishment of a self-adhesive pebble, was added to each card.

Craft Stamper Challenge: Science Concertina Tag Book

My latest challenge is from Craft Stamper magazine.  The Take It, Make It Challenge.  This challenge was to make something inspired by one of the techniques from Craft Stamper during 2014.

Since reading one of the issues from this year, I had been meaning to try and make some backgrounds with scraps of cardboard and acrylic paint.  So, my inspiration is from; Masterclass: Stamping with Corrugated Card by Claudia Neubacher, September 2014 issue.

I started by making the corrugated card printing blocks and sealed them with three coats of matt varnish.

Using a brayer, acrylic paint (PaperArtsy Fresco Finish) was applied to the card and printed on my favourite sized giant tags made from the super versatile white card from papermilldirect.co.uk.

Different colours were applied using the corrugated card to five tags.  The teal coloured paint was also applied to the edges of the tags with a dry brush.

Using a mixture of stamps with a scientific theme, some stamped directly onto the tag and some onto white card then cut out, each tag was decorated before the tag book was put together.

Red 'splats' and black 'scratchy edges' were stamped on each tag (Versafine, Crimson Red and StazOn, Black).

A single colour was added to some of the decoupaged stamped images using stormy sky Distress Ink pen and a watercolour brush.  Some of these elements were mounted flat to the tag with PVA, others were added with dimensional gel glue.

Once all the glue was dry, the tags were joined together with tabs and co-ordinating ribbon added.

I will definitely be using this technique again, I love the final result.

Here's all the stamps used for the project;
Stampers Anonymous - Bitty Grunge CMS089
Stampers Anonymous - Laboratoire CMS173
Stampers Anonymous - Poisonous CMS171
Stampers Anonymous - The Chemist CMS172
IndigoBlu - Sarah's Choice
Stamping All Day - Top Secret
Crafty Individuals - CI-360 Poison and Danger
Hero Arts - AC026 Brush Strokes
Trodat Printy 4846

PaperArtsy Challenge: Hanging Board

The latest PaperArtsy challenge was to make something inspired by guest designer Liesbeth Fidder. 

Looking through some of  Liesbeth's designs on the challenge blog were some tags with lovely backgrounds made using powdered paint called Bister.  I have used something similar called Brusho to get some interesting effects, but haven't used it for a while, so I have been inspired to get them out of the cupboard and get messy!  One of Liesbeth's designs using PaperArtsy products was a Hanging board and I also took inspiration from this, making something similar.

The rubberstamps used on the project were all Ink and the Dog stamp collection from PaperArtsy.

My board was made with artists craft board, roughly cut into three pieces with heavy duty scissors. The edges were inked with bright green Distress Ink with a foam applicator.  A few layers of gesso were painted on all the pieces roughly.  Each layer was allowed to dry before the next.

Some 300gsm white card and the prepared craft board were spritzed with water from a spray bottle, then the Brusho powdered paint was sprinkled on the surface of the water.

Drying the surfaces with a heat gun, this was repeated a few times with the green and turquoise colour.

Once the board was completely dry, it was stamped with some of the images randomly (post mark, splats, ruler and dragonfly) in green Distress Ink or black or grey StazOn.  Stamping was dried with a heat gun then each of the pieces of board were inked around the edges with Walnut Stain Distress Ink, using foam.

All the other stamps were randomly stamped with black archival ink on the white card decorated with Brusho, some numerous times.  A number of butterflies were cut out, as was the man's head and shoulders.  Some of the colour was removed from the man's face with a wet paintbrush and blotting with kitchen roll. The man's face and words were stuck to the board with PVA glue, the butterfllies were added using dimensional glue gel.

Paperartsy Grunge Flower dies were used to cut the flower embellishments from the Brusho and stamped card. The backs were coloured with Walnut Stain Distress Ink and the flower shaped by placing in the palm of the hand and running a large ball tool around the middle. Flowers were finished off, whether multi layer or single layer with a antique brass brad and some brown ink around the edges.

Holes were made in the board with a screw punch and the boards were connected with antique brass jump rings.  Matching chain was added to the top part of the board and the grunge flowers were added with dimensional glue.  To finish off, a little polymer clay face embellishment was added to one of the butterflies.