Creative Expressions Calling Card Challenge

Creative Expressions set a challenge to make a stamped piece which has an ATC somewhere in it. As I don't often make ATCs I thought I'd make one! I wanted to keep this really clean looking and was reminded of the quote that "Butterflies are self propelled 

flowers" (R.H. Heinlein) so used that as my inspiration. I used an ATC art part from Wendy Vecchi's range as the basis and covered it with white card. I stained the paper with Antique Linen Distress Stain and then edged it with Vintage Photo Distress Ink. The stamp is from 

Tim's Papillon set and was stamped with Vintage Photo Distress Ink. I then punched two holes with my Cropadile and added two brass Hitch Fasteners, two Jump Rings and some chain. The Leaves are also art parts and I used watered down Snowflake 

Fresco Finish Paint from PaperArtsy. I then applied four coats of Peeled Paint Distress Stain and then, using the Dots stamp from Artistic Stamper I stamped the leaves with Peeled Paint Distress Ink. The butterfly is Grungeboard, covered in white card and cut using my 

trusty Vagabond and the Mini Butterfly Mover and Shapers Die. I stamped a few blue Distress Inks on my craft sheet and then 'smooched' the butterfly through them to pick up the colours. I then stamped the background stamp from Wendy's Celestial Art set in Tumbled Glass Distress Ink and inked the edgaes with Vintage Photo Distress Ink. The centre of the butterfly is a Maya Road pin with a punched circle, stained in Antique Linen Distress Stain and edged with Vintage Photo Distress Ink. The circle was rolled round the pin and glued in place. 
Well, it's been a beautiful day here so I'm off to enjoy the summer's evening - I hope you have a wonderful weekend. Gabrielle x

... is where the heart is!

On Facebook I saw that an old friend had moved house and it made me think a little about moving house cards and presents. I have previously used Tim's Rickety House die but I happened to have 'accidently' purchased Artful Dwellings and it seemed a shame not to use 

them! I have admired how others have used them to create a really nice scene and I have tried to have a go at this myself. You will see that I still had the colours and papers left out from my last project 'Back to Black' and as I really liked them I didn't really see any reason to put them away! {Oh! Before I launch into how this was made I edged everything in Vintage Photo Distress Ink - I might forget to say that when I get to the end!} The houses are cut with my 

trusty Vagabond from Grungeboard and are either covered in Kraft Resist paper and/or Distress Stain (I used Vintage Photo and Broken China). The letters are Grungeblocks, again treated with Distress Stains. The roof of 'H' is Grungeboard, covered with Broken China Distress Stain, and cut with  a Scallops On the Edge die. Just cut several sections and layer them like roof tiles! The 'H' itself has a coat of Rock Candy Stickles The 'O' has a roof made 

Don't be fooled by the eyes! She eats art!

from thin sections of Grungeboard, covered with Vintage Photo Distress Stain and Rock Candy Stickles. I added a little Broken China Mixed Mini star. The background is Vintage Photo Distress Stain painted with Rock Candy Crackle Paint and then Broken China Distress 

Stain over the top. The 'M' has a clock I found in a bead shop ages ago and sitting on the top is a little Broken China bird (in honour of the bird and project my dog ate...grrr) cut with a Stampin' Up punch. The dots are stamped with an Artistic Stamper stamp in Vintage Photo Distress Ink. The house and door are covered in Kraft Resist paper (but the reverse) and the door is painted with Rocky Candy Crackle Paint. The hinges are from the Mixed Minis set as before. Inside the door is  the sentiment (I love my Dymo!)and a Mixed Mini heart in Fired Brick Distress Stain. For the 'E' I cut an extra Grungeboard roof and cut an edge from the other side of the Scallops die. It has Rocky Candy Stickles roof and the block for the letter has a thick layer of Crackle Paint. I hope it makes a nice 'welcome to your new home' gift! Gabrielle x 

ps - just learning to forgive my dog. It may take some time!

I am submitting this for the following challenges:

Grungy Monday - Rock Candy

Simon Says Stamp and Show - Anything Goes!

Simon Says Challenge - Shaped Cards/Creations

Back to Black...

Following the sad news of Amy Winehouse's death, Hels set the Sunday Stamper challenge as 'black' in reference to Amy's fabulous song 'Back to Black'. Now I'm no longer in my goth phase (no photos available as evidence I'm afraid *small lie*!!!) I don't 

use as much black any more so this was a real challenge! So, using a now unfamiliar colour, and not really having  a clue what to do I decided to have a play with some new Art Parts I bought from the lovely Karen at LB Crafts (we always have a good 

chat whenever I pop in and that's a brilliant ploy as it means I keep gazing round the shop finding more to buy!) So I used the Large Creative Covers and covered the art parts, inside and out, with some of Tim's Kraft Resist paper. I added the smaller ring 

binder before glueing the Broken China Distress Stained section over the outer spine. The word was made from Grungeblocks painted in two coats of PaperArtsy's Fresco Finish Little Black Dress paint, sanded and stained in Vintage Photo. The art 

parts are Leaves (swiped with Jet Black Archival Ink and Vintage Photo Distress Stain) and Florals covered in Broken China and Vintage Photo Distress Stain with the blue flower over stamped with Wendy Vecchi's Celestial Art background stamp. The centre of the flower is a curio knob. Everything has a little Vintage Photo Distress Ink on the edges! 

I was too impatient to let it dry properly before photographing it so please forgive any wrinkles on the spine! Just need to fill it with ideas now! Gabrielle x

An End of Year Thank You - Part 2!

If you missed part 1 it is here! Just a quick post to show the thank yous I made for our senior leadership team at school. It's been a rollercoaster of a year and throughout it all they have been a steady hand on the tiller! They're made just like I made the others - I used paper from Tim's Lost and Found stash covering an 

ATC art part and inked them with Wild Honey Distress Stain (my new favourite!) I used the same stamp in Jet Black Archival Ink. The art parts are inked with Distress Stains (Fired Brick, Wild Honey, Dusty Concord and Peeled Paint) but the stars are painted with a thin coat of Silver Paint dabber - it's thin so that the art part shows 

through. I painted/inked both sides of the art part so that it looked as good when you turned it over and then glued it to the ATC. The back of the art part was covered in the reverse of the paper I used for the front and then I added my message of thanks. 

Well, that's school over for another year - six and a half weeks off before it starts all over again! have a wonderful weekend one and all, and for those having summer holidays off - have a wonderfully restful time. Gabrielle x

An End of Year Thank You!

Today is a sad/happy kinda day. It is the last day of term which is always joyous for those under 16! But it's sad as my beautiful baby girl leaves Primary School! OK she might not technically be a baby any more but it is the end of an era! I wanted to thank Freya's 

teacher (and Tom's) for being really supportive this year and I knew I wanted to play with more of Wendy's wonderful Art Parts. I buy them from Linda at LB Crafts and I can't link each one individually so please pop by her website and see all the goodies in their glory! I covered both 

sides of two bottles with Broken China Distress Stain. I then stamped them with the bottle from the Tools for Art stamp set in Jet Black Archival Ink and then clear embossed them. The ATC Art Part was covered, on one side, in cream paper and then I covered the ATC in Wild 

Honey Distress Stain on both sides. I stamped Curiosity twice with Vintage Photo Distress Ink on each ATC and then stamped the message in Jet Black Archival Ink - thought it quite appropriate for two inspiring educators! The flowers were from the Floral art part 

set. I covered the flower with paper (both sides) and stained them in Fired Brick Distress Stain and the stems in Peeled Paint. The centre is a bingo number (Tim calls them game pieces) that is appropriate for the year that they teach! The back of each has a dymo 

stamped 'thank you' and a little handwritten note of thanks. The flowers and the ATCs are all edged (both sides) with Vintage Photo Distress Ink. 
So, this might be the end of an era for my darling daughter but it is the start of a new one - and I get the impression that it's going to be quite a ride! Gabrielle x

I *heart* Wendy Vecchi Art Parts!

Ok. It's official. I am utterly in love with Wendy Vecchi's Art Parts. They are incredibly versatile and are so easy to use! So I am experimenting for another project (top secret!) and so I made this as a prototype! I used parts from the spool set, covered them in spare paper from Stampin' Up (from this 

project) and then coloured them with Wild Honey Distress Stain and edged in Vintage Photo Distress Ink. The leaf part (from the Leaves Set) was covered in left over paper from the same project (I throw nothing away!) and then covered in Peeled Paint Distress Stain and edged in Vintage Photo. The bird is 

grungeboard covered in more spare Stampin' Up paper and cut using Nestabilitiy dies. I used the middle sized and largest dies and carefully cut the beak off the smaller one so that it becomes the wing. The bird was coloured with Broken China Distress Stain and edged in Vintage Photo. The flowers (from the Floral Set) were 

coloured in Fired Brick and Dusty Concord Distress Stains and the centre was a left over piece from the Spool Set covered in a corner of some of the left over paper and covered in Wild Honey again. There is a stalk covered in Peeled Paint Distress Stain but it may be hiding behind the leaf part! The butterflies (there is one 

each side) are grungeboard covered in Fired Brick Distress Stain, stamped with a PaperArtsy script stamp in Coffee Archival Ink and then clear embossed. The Adage Ticket was scrumpled up and covered in Vintage Photo Distress Ink. The wings are from Tim's Mixed Minis set, covered in Broken China Distress Stain 

and then a little Vintage Photo Distress Stain at the centre and then blended in. They were then clear embossed. The grungeboard star from Mixed Minis is covered in Gold Paint Dabber - which exploded all over me, my desk, my clothes and carpet! Nightmare! Anyway - I hope you like my newest make - as always I really value your comments. Gabrielle x

I am entering this for the following challenges:

Grungy Monday - Grungeboard

Simon Says Stamp - Newspaper

Simon Says Stamp and Show - Embossing

Sunday Stampers - Build your own flower embellishment

Edit - This is when 'she who eats art' got her name as about 12 hours after making this Molly ate it all up! I'm glad it was tasty but I was devasted to say the least! Never mind...

My not so perfect Grungy Monday

Over at Studio L3 Linda set a new Grungy Monday challenge based on Tim's 2007 technique. The Sunday Stamper theme this week is flight which was perfect as I had a brilliant idea but somewhere in the execution it didn't go quite to plan!!! It has turned out a little bland but I think it's important to own up occasionally that you can't always get things right!  I used kraft stock and cut out wings, a large heart and a tag. 

The wings were sprayed with Cosmic Shimmer Silver Mister and then covered in clear embossing powder. Now here's a tip - when you use a mist and then tap it firmly (just like Tim suggests) don't, and I mean don't, tap it over the excess powder - big globules of mist 

fall into your powder and it's impossible to clean them out! Then I dusted Vintage Photo Distress Ink over the top.  The heart was coated in Spun Sugar Distress Ink, embossed and the dusted with Victorian Velvet Distress Ink (next time I 

think I'd use Fired Brick...!) The tag was covered with Symphony Tissue Tape, Vintage Photo Distress Stain and then misted with Heirloom Gold Perfect Pearls. I have a really old stamp (have no idea who made it - sorry) that I stamped with Jet Black Archival Ink and then added a 'heart' word. To the heart I attached a key with a jump ring. And that folks is that! Thanks, as always, for visiting it is very much appreciated! Gabrielle x

Art Parts

Now I appreciate that I am late in catching on (well, not late exactly, just lacking in time to experiment - isn't it always the way?!) but I have finally managed to have a play with some Wendy Vecchi Art Parts and Tim's Distress Stains that I bought from lovely Linda and Karen at LB Crafts. I have to confess that I wasn't really sure how to use them but just thought I'd have a go and then could always quietly 'file' them if the outcome wasn't great! I used a large flower from Flower Set, glued dictionary paper to it and covered it in Fired Brick Distress Stain. I love this colour - just such a lovely depth. I then covered some Leaves in Peeled Paint Distress Stain and used Vintage Photo Distress Ink on the edges. 

I covered an ATC Art Part in some leftover paper (Square Hare) from our Alice in Wonderland party and then coloured it with Wild Honey Distress Stain. The sentiment is from PaperArtsy Ephemera - Plate 2 and stamped in Jet Black Archival Ink. The bottle is from the Borders and Bottles set and stained in Broken China. The hand is from Wendy's Collectible Art (SCS043) set and again stamped in Jet Black. I added a little script stamp in Vintage Photo to the top to look like a 'lid' and added Vintage Photo on the edges. I glued a pen nib to the bottom of the bottle, some Hitch Fasteners to the flower petals and two Swivel Clasps. I had such fun making this - I haven't before had the chance to play 'Wendy' style and it was really great to try something new. Have a great weekend and thanks again for all your lovely comments they are appreciated. Gabrielle x

Be still my (tattooed) heart!

I am so pleased by my entry to this week's challenges. Not because it is the best entry nor because it is necessarily the best tag I have ever made. No - I am chuffed because I have had many aborted attempts at using this stamp and I am finally happy with the result! Cue singing choirs of angels! I used Tim's technique as suggested 

by Linda at Studio L3 for this week's Grungy Monday challenge. I have tried this a few times before and as I knew I wanted to use the heart stamp I did use clear embossing powder instead of paint as I wanted the image a little stronger... hope that doesn't mean I cheated! I cut out a tag with my trusty Vagabond and then mixed Heirloom Gold Perfect Pearls powder with Vintage Photo reinker and Forever Red Perfect Pearls with Barn 

Door reinker. I sprayed the red in the middle and the Vintage Photo at the edges so that the image looked stronger. When it was dry (isn't waiting for things to dry boring? I went to my daughter's final primary school play while I was waiting so that took a lot of the boredom out of it!) I added Coffee Archival Ink flourishes (as per the Simon Says Stamp and Show 

challenge this week) and a sentiment (that's my Sunday Stamper challenge done too!) I added an Adage Ticket (inked like the tag) and a Trinket Pin. I distressed the edges of the tag, inked them with Coffee Archival Ink and added a chocolate ribbon. Then I admired my lovely handiwork and knew it needed a little something so added some lush Rock Candy Stickles to 

the heart and a little on the edges. I haven't used Stickles for ages and forgot how much I love them so be warned - they'll be on everything now! Thank you for reading this, and for your comments on this blog, Twitter and Facebook - they really are appreciated! Gabrielle x

Inky fingers!

Before!

I haven't had any time to get inky this week - I have to admit to counting the days until the summer holidays when I'll have a bit more time off work to really get some more projects finished! This week's Grungy Monday project over at Studio L3 was to use Tim's Alcohol Inks. I had grand plans for this challenge until I realised it was Sunday afternoon already! 

After!

So I have just managed to squeeze in a few minutes to ink up a charm with Pool and Purple Twilight and add a chain. Alcohol Inks are incredibly versatile - I have used them with paint as well as with all sorts of different surfaces from glass to shrink plastic! They dry really quickly (a bonus today!) and you can use a heat gun too! If you make a mistake try using a little Blending Solution! If you haven't tried them yet - be brave! My daughter bought a belcher bracelet, alcohol inked up a few charms and is wearing it with pride - so if you can do it at 11 it must be good fun (though her fingers are a fetching stain of Plum!!!) Gabrielle x