GLIMMER & CHIPS...

Just a quick post today,
Another class by Linda Elbourne, held at LB Crafts,
The class was a few weeks ago,

This time we used Wendy Vecchi stamps (some of my favorite stamps in the whole wide world) check out her blog here studio 490 we also used Maya road chip board shapes & frames,& of course the fabulous ranger distress inks & grunge paper, plus the odd bit of idea-ology thrown in for good measure.

I love the colours of this wall hanging

(brushed corduroy, spiced marmalade & peeled paint)

I will definitely be using this colour combination again.

Head over to Linda's blog a crafting journey & check out the pic's of us all crafting away & posing for the camera, we had such a great day.

Short & Sweet, but I'll be back

Kat x.

A T C's I can't part with.....

I thought I would share with you two ATC's I made & couldn't part with.
I know it's not the done thing to keep them but I cant help it, they were the
first two ATC's I ever made & they fell like my baby's
( I know, I'm nut's but I get so attached, LOL, is it just me ??? )
anyway I have swapped lots so I don't feel that bad,

OK, confession over, back to the post.

I thought I would do a little step by step on the background I used on both of them.

Step One,

Screw up your paper, then flatten out again.

Step Two,

Direct to paper Technique (which means, rub an ink pad over the paper just hitting the high points.)

Step Three,

Grab your craft or travel iron, & iron flat.

Step Four,

Stamp any design over the top.

How easy is that & such a cool affect.

Well thats it for today,

Kat x.

TEN SECOND STUDIO METAL, Love it Love it Love it !!!

This 3 draw chest is my first attempt at TSS Metal & I'm loving it.

The chest came from,yes you guest it, a car boot sale for £1.50 bargain hay !! it was in a bit of a sorry state.

I sanded then painted the chest with black acrylic paint,

I then put a watered down brown paint over the top so it wasn't so stark,

& it gave it a kind of weathered wood look.

I drew around the draws, face down on a sheet of dark brown metal,

I then took a big momma mould with words on & embossed live & love & a kabuka alphabet mould to emboss the laugh,

here is a picture of the four moulds I used for the whole project,

I then embossed a whole design over the 3 draw fronts to keep the pattern going I just moved the mould over to the left & embossed it again.

I then measured the top of the chest in the same way & embossed it with another mould.

Next I sanded the high points to reveal the silver under the brown coated metal, I got the alcohol ink & blending tool, & only rubbed it on certain sections,

next I filled the back with ploy filler so it makes it more durable (waited for that to dry) then covered the metal with humungo tape, & stuck each piece to the corresponding draw,

then cut them out with a craft knife, 

I then burnished the edges with a paper stump, I did the same with the top section. then all that was left was to screw the knobs on. job done.

 

Don't worry if I lost you along the way, or you are not sure of any techniques or terminology I have used

go over to ten seconds studio & watch there videos, all will become clear,

that's what I did & it gave me the confidence to have a go. ( now I'm hooked. )

But beware the duo over there are crazy (but so much fun)

Don't forget I warned you.LOL.

Well that's it from me, I would love to read your comments

Kat x.

MIRROR MIRROR...

Hi there, it's just a quick post today,
It's the mirror I mentioned a few posts ago.
I have made this for Barbara Gray at Clarity stamps, I will give it to her at the Stevanage show on Sunday,
I hope she likes it, it's made up of all my favorite stamps she has designed,

It has been made exactly the same as the one a few posts ago, just with different colours & stamps.

I'm off to wrap it some how now,
back soon Kat x

IT'S ALL ABOUT TIME...

Today's project is a large one, but it is made up of small manageable pieces.

I got the frame at a car boot sale for £2 (bargain hay, it was still in its wrapper and everything)LOL

I knew straight away I wanted to do one complete theme, I looked in my stash & found I had a lot of time related stamps, I then found any Bit's & Bob's I had relating to time.

I stamped the images with walnut stain & vintage photo distress inks (if you stamp once onto copy paper then on your art work you get a fainter image, so you can get different depths,

this is known as the ink, blot, plot technique.

the blended colours are brushed corduroy & peeled paint.

I was able to use some dimension because the glass isn't glass it's actually a sheet of acrylic.

here are some close ups of each section.

That's it for today hope you liked it,

Kat x

I'M A BIG FAN OF ........

I thought I would show one of my cards today instead of an altered art piece.

I wanted to share with you my best selling card of all time.

I have sold this card for lots of occasions (wedding, birthday, anniversary, thank yous ) I have even sold it to a lady that wanted one for herself to put in her glass cabinet like an ornament (I took that as a massive compliment).

This card has huge dimension so I use silicone glue for that,the Images & patterned paper are from CD's by Joanna Sheen, the fan shape is embossed on one of the glitter girls boards & then the embossing is all refined with peel offs.

the photo's don't pick up the depth or the embossing very well (sorry about that)

that was a quick post today back soon Kat x.

FLOURISHING QUARTET

This is a class I attended at L B crafts. It was run by Linda Elbourne.
She is such a talented lady & very modest too, she has a wealth of inspiration on her blog,
click here A Crafting Journey. to check it out.

In the class I learned all about the power of a baby wipe when useing acrylic paints, & how to die cut

Ten Second Studio metal properly, (it's all about the tape sandwich)LOL.

I had a lovely day, not only was it very informative, it was also so much fun. I left her class all reved up, with the confidence to go home & put all I have learned into my craft projects.

Here are some close up's

I am not going into detail on this one incase you want to do the class.

That's it for now TTFN Kat x

WHAT CAME FIRST THE DUCK OR THE SHADOW BOX ?

Well it was actually the DUCK,

He was sitting in a cabinet in a charity shop, all on his lonesome with a price tag around his neck bigger than he was, how could I resist.

I knew I had a bull rush stamp sitting at home that I had never used and knew it would be perfect to accompany him inside a shadow box.

From This.

To This.

                      In less than 4 minuets ( I love it when that happens )

All I did was cut a piece of card to fit in the frame, used a brayer & a big & juicy ink pad (hydrangea) for the background masking off a little circle for the moon first. then with black archival ink pad, stamped bull rushes, birds & grasses as pictured. Popped the duck on the ledge (not fixed so he can have a swim around if he wants to) LOL. I put the stamped piece in the frame & closed the back up. I haven't decorated the frame yet as I am still unsure on colouring it or leaving it natural, what do you think?
All the stamps used today come from Clarity stamps.Barbara Gray is a fantastic stamp designer, as well as an inspirational card maker, check her out here clarity stamp.co.uk
Well that's it for today I'm off to chill in front of TV Kat x

STAMPED ART MIRROR

I confess, I made this mirror about a year ago, I got the mirror from Ikea for £1.19 (bargain hay)
I decided to make a collage of some of my favorite stamps, this is a cheaper option than making a shadow box and I think It is just as affective.

Ingredients Used,

• mirror from Ikea
• white card
• double sided tape
• distress inks (antique linen, scatterd straw and aged mahogany)
• archival ink pad (jet black)
• color box fluid chalk eye ink pad (dark brown)
• stamps (Tim Holtz, Wendy Vecchi, Paper Artsy)
• Tim Holtz Idea-ology
• glossy accents 

Measure & cut a white piece of card the same size as the frame, use a craft knife to cut the hole for the mirror, then cut the card into pieces (bearing in mind the size of stamps you want to use).

stamp the images with black ink, blend with distress inks as pictured, go round all the edges with dark brown chalk eye ink to pull all the images together, cover frame with double sided tape, stick all the pieces onto the frame, add your Idea-ology or any bits & bobs you want to use with glossy accents. job done.

Here are some close ups

I am going to do a step by step tutorial the next time I make one of these mirror's.

I have made one for Barbara Grey of Clarity Stamps, I am going to give it to her at the stamparama show at Stevanage on the 15th of  August, so I will need to get it up on here before then.

well that's it for today back soon Kat x

SHABBY SHACK WORKSHOP

Look what I made at L B Crafts today, under the expert tuition of Linda Brown,

How fab is this!!!!! I am so pleased with it.

I had such a good day playing.      ripping, tearing, inking, painting and stamping.

Lin makes you feel so welcome, and nothing is to much trouble,

the stamps used are Dark room door and a few Wendy Vecchie for good measure, and one is a Paper Artsy's.

I'm not going to tell you all the In's and outs because that might spoil it if you decide to go on the workshop.

   

here are a few close ups so you can see the dimension, sorry about the blur, I was so excited to get it up I rushed taking the pic's.

head over to Lin's blog (yours artfully) for a fantastic source of inspiration.

well that's me for now must dash, off to Rosemary Conley class to get weighed and do exercise class

Kat x.