Shiny movie box

I am a bit last minute with this post but I wanted to join in the fun and play along with the current Sunday Stamper challenge week 250 at Hels Sheridan's Ink of my fingers blog.  The theme this week is to create something 'shiny' and there's also some wonderful candy to be won by one lucky entrant.

I started with a small paper mache box and covered it inside and out with the silver Ranger adironack acrylic paint dabber.  Once dry I added a strip of the Ranger metal foil tape sheet around the edge of my lid to add interest and then created my embellishments for the lid by cutting a piece of silver mesh just larger than the top of the lid then a piece of Tim Holtz film strip ribbon.  Next I stamped the Tim Holtz ticket onto a piece of pre-painted silver card stock and created the ticket shape using a punch, I then edged with black ink and covered with Tim Holtz rock candy distress paint.  I stamped the Tim Holtz hand onto another piece of the Ranger silver metal foil tape sheet and cut out.  I attached all of the pieces using foam tape and silicone glue to add depth and to finish the box off I added 3 drops of Ranger liquid pearls and the head of a silver brad.

Thanks for looking!
Tracey x 

Faces

Well today is my final post as guest designer at Out of a hat creations, and for challenge 53 Sandra has set the theme 'Faces'.  Firstly I wanted to say that I have had a wonderful time sharing my projects with you and appreciate all of the comments you have left on my blog, it is also lovely to have new followers and I hope to continue to inspire as I play along with the Hatters each week!

After much consideration I have reverted to my love of tags and all things dark for this challenge after finding a quote 'Life's true face is the skull' by Nikos Kazantzakis online.  I cut the tag in white card stock using the Tim Holtz die and coloured using the Tim Holtz brushed corduroy distress ink and then edged with gathered twigs and black soot before dropping water onto the tag to remove some of the ink.  Next using Tim Holtz stamps I added 4 skulls and then a crackle background.  I stamped one more skull onto white card stock, cut out and then covered with Tim Holtz rock candy distress paint.  I wrote the quote onto white card stock and backed onto black card stock.  I attached the skull and the quote using double sided foam and added a black ribbon was attached.

Thanks for looking!
Tracey x

'P' is for Panther

The sixth letter in the The Craft Barn alpha challenge is 'P'.  Now I've come to realise over the last couple of challenges that my small cheap dictionary is not very comprehensive meaning that I couldn't do my original choices of Punum or Pin-up.  In the end I've decided to use my newly arrived Bombshell panther stamp.

As with the previous challenges, I started with the 6x7 inch white card stock base and punched the 2 holes on the correct side for it to be added to my book.   I glued the dictionary page and stamped the Panther then doodled around the word and definition plus around the edge of the page and again around the dictionary page.  Next I covered the word and definition and then spritzed the page with a number of Dylusions inks plus water for achieve the background. Once dry I edged the page with Tim Holtz black soot distress ink and added picket fence to the image and the doodling and added some splatz to the page.  Next I covered the word with Tim Holtz rock candy crackle paint and the panther with Ranger glossy accents and added a line to the end of each claw.  Finally and as usual I added the appropriate Tim Holtz alphabet letter and stamped my chosen word onto black card stock.

Thanks for looking!
Tracey x

Take time to smell the flowers

This tag is for the March 'Flowers' challenge at Tando Creative.

I have created a larger than usual tag for this project, using the template from the packaging of my Prima Mixed Media doll stamp.  First I stamped the tag with a number of images from my new JOFY stamp set before colouring with different green and blue Tim Holtz distress inks and edging with the black soot.  I spritzed water on the top half of the tag and then added water drops to the lower half and dried with my heat tool.  Next I used the Tim Holtz picket fence distress marker to add white highlights to the image and added a black and white lines to the edge of the tag.  I then covered the whole tag with Tim Holtz rock candy distress crackle paint.  Once dry I added additional stamped and inked layers to the leaves and flowers, again covered in rock candy.  To finish I backed the tag onto kraft card stock and added twine tied through the hole.

Thanks for looking!
Tracey x

Time to Party

The March challenge at Inspiration Emporium is 'Add a little P.O.P.'  I have decided to do this by using bright colours and foam pads to add depth to my project.

I started by running a white card stock Tim Holtz die cut tag through my big shot inside the DoCrafts Xcut chronology clocks tri emboss embossing folder, next I rubbed embossing ink over the top of the raised image and covered and heated with clear embossing powder. I inked the tag with Tim Holtz Summer distress inks as these colours are lovely and bright.  Next I stamped the word party and 2 images of the girl from one of the Docrafts creativity magazine free stamp sets, I also used a couple of words from the Tim Holtz chit chat.  I inked the backgrounds of the 3 words and also another piece to be used as my background for the image, I also spritzed water to create a mottled effect before covering with Tim Holtz rock candy crackle paint.  I backed all four pieces onto black card stock to give definition.  For the stamped girl I coloured both images the same using Letraset promarkers and cut the second image to leave just the dress and hair and decoupaged on top of the first using foam squares.  I added ribbon and layered all the pieces as below.

Thanks for looking!
Tracey x

Hatter's Birthday Spinner Game

Welcome to my third post for Out of a hat creations, where today's challenge 52 celebrates the Hatters 1st birthday and Janet has set us a challenge to create a project using the spinner at the bottom of the post.  Luckily for me my spinner landed on Steampunk as I love everything about this theme. 

Whilst at the Hels Sheridan workshop at Birds in the Barn in November one of the Ladies brought in a top hat which she'd made and it was lovely...when she offered me a copy of the template I couldn't say no.  Now I didn't want to cut my template until I'd photocopied it on to my PC so I started off by pressing through the template onto a piece of the Tim Holtz kraft resist paper stash for my base.  The template didn't come with instructions and although I remember this being done in a Craft Stamper magazine I hadn't found the article when making the hat meaning that I had to alter my design as I went along and I didn't quite put it together properly.  I am still happy with the basic shape and will definitely be having another go using grunge paper when I get a chance.

I spritzed the top hat with chocolate Dylusions spray ink and then rubbed Tim Holtz brushed corduroy distress ink over the top followed by a light brush of the silver adirondack acrylic paint dabber.  I then added gold mesh before covering the whole piece with Claudine Hellmuth matte multi-medium to attempt a leather look.  Next I attached silver brads in the holes on the front and a strip of silver ribbon to the bottom of the hat above the brim.  To embellish the hat I created 2 small flowers using the Tim Holtz tattered florals die and glassine paper which I crumbled, inked and spritzed with Tattered Angels marshmallow glimmer mist before adding a spinner made from grunge paper.  I attached these to the hat with gold brads.  I stamped the Hampton Art lady with cog hair on to kraft card stock and covered her with Tim Holtz distress crackle paint rock candy.  I found a swirl which was the left over from previously cutting the Tim Holtz elegant flourish die in cork, a punched ticket and I created a cog again from kraft card stock, I attached all of these items to the side of my hat.

And this is the spinner with options that we've used to play along with this week's challenge game.

                                        

Thanks for looking!

Tracey x

Bombshell Stamps x3

The latest challenge on the Bombshell Stamps forum and blog is set by Miss March and is called 'x3' which means using 3 of their wonderful stamps on your project.  Now I have gone a little over the limit and decided to move away from my usual love of tags this month, I hope I still qualify for the challenge.

I started with a paper mache heart shaped box which I painted with the Ranger adirondack snow cap acrylic paint. Next I stamped the outside of the box and the lid plus the 3 skulls, sentiment and flower onto white card stock.  I edged the box, the sentiment and flowers with Tim Holtz barn door distress ink and then covered each piece with the Tim Holtz rock candy distress paint.  I shaped the word banner and the flowers a little to give them depth and once dry I attached the flowers and sentiment to the top of the box.  I coloured the 3 skulls with Letraset promarkers and attached them to the inside of the box using strips of acetate.

Thanks for looking!
Tracey x

A recipe - Green, Die cuts & Cogs

This week I am playing along at a challenge blog new to me called DragonsDream Tag It On, where challenge #137 has a 'recipe of green, die cuts and cogs'.  As those of you who follow my blog will know, I have a love for the new Docrafts chronology range and couldn't wait to create another new project using these products.

I started with a Tim Holtz die cut tag and inked it with Dylusions green spray inks and then Tatter Angels marshmallow glimmer mist.  Next I inked the inside of the Xcut cogs Tri-boss embossing folder with black soot distress ink and ran the tag through the big shot.  I added Ranger bronze adirondack acrylic paint round the edges and over the top of the tag in places and then covered the whole tag with Tim Holtz rock candy crackle paint.  Next I stamped the man from one of the chronology stamps and coloured using Tim Holtz green distress inks and then added picket fence distress marker to the hair and cuffs and glossy accents to the binocular lenses, I attached the image to the tag using foam tape for depth.  Next I die cut the 9 chronology cogs in green coordination's card stock, edged with the bronze paint and sanded to distress before attaching to the tag with chronology brass brads.  I stamped 3 butterflies using a Martha Stewart punch to fill the top corner.  For the sentiment I used a mixture of Tim Holtz chit chat and my own handwritten words, inked and covered the 3 handwritten words with glossy accents.  Finally I backed the tag onto the same coordination's card stock and added 2 green ribbons to the top of the tag.

Thanks for looking!
Tracey x

Tim Holtz Challenge - Tattered Florals

So today's post is very exciting as Tim Holtz has challenged us to use his Tattered Floral Die and there will be prizes for 5 lucky winners, of course I have my fingers crossed as $175 of Tim's products would be an awesome addition to my stash!  I am also going to share this project on Hels Sheridan's Sunday Stampers 'Brown' challenge.

Now I use Tim's products on just about every project so after much consideration I decided to start with a blank canvas for this project and as usual I've used a number of Tim's products on my finished piece.  I started by adding torn up pieces of the terminology tissue wrap using Claudine Hellmuth gesso to the front of the canvas so that the words still show through.  Once dry I added gesso through the Crafters Workshop honeycomb template to 5 places on the canvas and heated everything with my heat tool.  Next I covered the background with brushed corduroy and gathered twigs distress inks and stamped the PaperArtsy mini 60 cogs in the bottom right hand corner and applied rock candy crackle paint to the top right.  I created 3 tattered floral flowers using the die and kraft glassine, once the pieces were cut I crumbled each one, opened out and then rubbed the gathered twigs distress ink pad over before spritzing with Tattered Angels marshmallow glimmer mist and finally attached the 3 large and 2 smaller petals for each flower using a brad, I first came across these in an issue of Craft Stamper and have created these many times now.  I covered a bookplate die cut and the edge of the canvas with Ranger adirondack gold acrylic paint and added an adage ticket and brads to the book plate and attached to the canvas with double sided foam tape.  I also added a metal corner for additional decoration.  In order to fill the space I added a UTEE heart made at the melt pot magic workshop with Hels Sheridan and wings stamped with Bombshell stamps covered in the brown inks and rock candy, I attached the heart with silicone glue, again for depth.  Finally I added some treasure gold to the bottom left hand corner and over the raised honeycomb pattern.

Thanks for looking!
Tracey x

Happy St Patrick's Day!

I hope you have a great time celebrating this weekend and thought that in order to mark the occassion I would make a project.  I've had this free hat digi stamp from The Octopode Factory sitting on my computer for a while and thought it was about time I created something with it.  I am entering my tag into the following challenges:
Anything but a card Challenge 14 'Green, Irish, St Patrick's Day'
Crafters Cafe Blog Challenge 14 'Green and/or St Patrick's Day'
The Octopode Factory Friday Challenge 'Going Green'

I started with a Tim Holtz die cut tag and coloured it using various shades of green and yellow distress inks before spritzing with water and Dylusions.  Once dry I stamped a celtic 3 leaf clover and added a Tim Holtz crackle background stamp on to the tag.  I covered the whole thing with Tim Holtz rock candy crackle paint and once dry added more green distress ink and a little treasure gold.  I used double sided foam to attach the tag to a piece of black card stock cut just lager than the tag.  I stamped an appropriate Stampin'Up sentiment, punched out and backed with stampin'Up punches and attached it to the tag on foam tape before covering with glossy accents.  I printed the free hat digi stamp 3 times and cut one out as a whole, one without the brim and the top of the hat and the final one I cut just the ribbon and the shamrock.  I coloured all three images with distress ink and covered with the rock candy crackle glaze and then more distress ink.  I attached the 3 pieces in true decoupage fashion using the foam tape.  Finally I added 3 pieces of ribbon to the tag using the Tim Holtz tiny attacher.

Thanks for looking!
Tracey x

Easter Bonnet

Welcome to my second week as guest designer at Out of a hat creations.  Challenge 51 is 'Easter Bonnet' and although I have considered making an actual bonnet, I have settled for a card.

I started by purchasing a digi image from the Rick St Dennis Etsy Shop and once printed I coloured it using my Letraset promarkers.  I covered the bonnet with a Sakura glitter gold gel pen but unfortunately the photo doesn't show the bling effect it has.  I also added glossy accents to the rabbit, flower, basket ribbon and content.  For the background I used cream card stock which I stamped with a free Craft Stamper cockerel and then inked with Tim Holtz brushed corduroy, barn door and faded jeans.  I added a piece of twine tied with a bow.  The sentiment is from Stampin'Up and I attached everything using double sided foam.

Thanks for looking!
Tracey x

'M' is for Mansion

The fifth letter in the The Craft Barn alpha challenge is 'M' but this time you have you use a word between Ma and Me (inclusive).  After much deliberation I have chosen to use the word 'Mansion' as I have a perfect stamp from PSX which I never use.

As with the previous challenges, I started with the 6x7 inch white card stock base and punched the 2 holes on the correct side for it to be added to my book.  I glued down my dictionary page and then stamped the PSX mansion image and some Tim Holtz birds.  Next I coloured the background of the page using Tim Holtz distress inks and spritzed and splatted with water before drying.  I coloured the stamped image with Letraset promarkers and outlined both the image and the word/definition with black and white pen.  I covered the image with Tim Holtz rock candy distress paint and the dictionary definition with Ranger glossy accents.  I edged of the page with black and white pen and added some splats of Tim Holtz picket fence distress stains for interest.  Finally and in order to be consistent with the other pages for my finished alpha book I added the appropriate Tim Holtz alphabet letter and stamped my chosen word onto black card stock.

Thanks for looking!
Tracey x

I am perfect just the way I am

Last week I received happy mail from Art From The Heart containing the new set of Dylusions inks and the Prima mixed media doll 1, I couldn't wait to use these so set to work on a project straightaway.  The doll stamp comes with a background sheet in the shape of a large tag which is the perfect size (approx 4x9) to use for large projects.  I am entering my tag into The Artistic Stamper Creative Team March challenge which is 'Tags'.

I started by drawing round the tag and cutting it out before spritzing with all 6 of the new Dylusions inks and then spritzed with water to mix the inks slightly.  I then stamped a Prima background script text in black ink and edged the tag with Tim Holtz black soot distress ink.  I stamped the doll and coloured using Letraset Promarkers.  I added glossy accents to the shoes, dress and the hair band and once dry attached it to the tag using double sided foam.  I attached 2 pieces of twine down one side using the Tim Holtz tiny attacher.  I spritzed 6 Prima white paper flower embellishments, layered up and added a gem stone in the middle of each flower.  For the sentiment I stamped a Dylusions saying.  Finally I added 3 more gems, a ribbon and a ribbon bow.

Thanks for looking!
Tracey x

Friends and Friendships

Hello and welcome to my first post as the first guest design team member at Out of a hat creations where they are celebrating their first birthday this month.  I will be sharing my projects with you each Thursday morning for the month of March and I hope you enjoy visiting my blog, find inspiration in what I share and join us each week by linking your creation based on the chosen theme using the frog.  I have never done anything like this before but have been posting on my own blog for a while now and started participating in monthly blog challenges last year before committing to giving a weekly challenge a go with this creative bunch of Ladies.  I am very happy to be part of the DT for a month and I couldn't believe it when I was asked if I was interested, well I just couldn't say no!

So for those of you who are new to visiting my blog, I'm Tracey and I am a lover and addict of all things altered art and paper crafting.  I live in Suffolk England and have a 9 to 5 office job that gets in the way of my creative passion, thankfully I also have a very understanding man in my life.

Today's theme for challenge 50 is 'Friends and Friendships' and when one of my lovely friends celebrated a certain milestone birthday I made her a frame and matching card.  I forgot to take a photo of the frame at the time but she has since sent me a photo.

I used a frame from Poundland, kraft card stock, Basic Grey basics paper, Dylusions ink sprays, Tim Holtz distress ink, Jenni Bowlin journaling flower card (used as a template), Stickles, twine, glossy accents gems and leaf and heart hatpins. The butterflies are a Martha Stewart punch.

The card was created using the same with the addition of Tim Holtz kraft resist paper stash. The stamps are from Stampin'Up and the numbers are Thickers.

Thanks for looking!
Tracey x

Good Luck

Sadly one of our receptionists left work last Friday and I was asked to create the leaving card.  Now in order to get everyone in the Company to add their farewell wishes, the card needed to be A4 and I have to admit that I do find these size cards quite a challenge even though I've done a few in the past.

I covered the front of the card with a piece of textured card stock, just smaller that the card and then spritzed it with Tatter Angels marshmallow glimmer mist.  Next I cut 3 circles using the largest Spellbinder lacey circles nestabilities die.  I inked the inside of the die before removing it and then put it through my Big Shot inside the Cuttlebug floral fantasy embossing folder.  I used Stampin'up papers and dies from Sizzix and Cuttlebug to create the 3 leaves and 3 flowers which I scrunched and inked using Tim Holtz brushed corduroy distress ink. I added brads to the centre of each flower and attached to one of the circles.  I used Thickers glitter letters to add the sentiments to the other 2 circles.

Thanks for looking!
Tracey

Hels Sheridan Workshop - Melt Pot Magic

On Saturday I went to Birds in the Barn with a few of my craft friends for another enjoyable workshop with Hels Sheridan.  This time it was entitled 'Melt Pot Magic' and involved techniques with bees wax, utee and silicon moulds etc. The picture doesn't do the project justice but we each created a wonderful canvas using a paint scrape technique.  I chose to stamp the new images from Jo Firth-Young and a sentiment from Tim Holtz onto tissue which we added to the canvas with the beeswax (we ended up using natural beeswax and not clear).  I added purple treasure gold to finish.  I am very pleased with the finished product and can't wait to get my melt pot out again or attend my next workshop with Hels.

I didn't think about it during the workshop but upon getting home I realised that the colours used for my canvas matches my recently decorated Laura Ashley living room perfectly, as you can see from the feature wall  photo below so the canvas will have a new home on one of the plain painted walls.

Thanks for looking!
Tracey x

Hanging About

This week's Challenge 49 at Out of a hat Creations is 'Hanging About' and I have decided to keep this my project simple.

I started by cutting the Tim Holtz tag die and then running it through my big shot inside the Provo Craft cuttlebug owl embossing folder (I did this upside down).  I inked the tag with Tim Holtz brushed corduroy and gathered twigs distress inks and then brushed the darker colour over the raised image but didn't mind getting it on the tag too to give it more of a grunge feel.  Next I stamped an appropriate Dylusions sentiment onto the tag and then again onto a separate piece of paper and again inked with the brushed corduroy. I added gold Sakura glitter pen to the owl and then covered both pieces with Tim Holtz rock candy distress paint.  Once dry I cut each block of the sentiment out and attached them to the tag with double sided foam.  Finally I tied two pieces of thin ribbon through the tag hole.

Thanks for looking!
Tracey x