ADDICTED TO STAMPS AND MORE - #518 BIRTHDAYS

Welcome back to our Birthdays Challenge at ATSM.  It's been a while since I used my Tim Holtz Snarky cats stamps and thought they needed another outing.  I've done this one as a wobbly card just by layering some paper behind the cat.  I've also given him some wobbly eyes! 

The background was created with a gel press and some Tim Holtz paint in Vintage Photo.  I then added extra stamping and some stencilling and some white splatter.  The balloon is on a dimensional but not a wobble.

I'm adding this into the following challenges:

Hearts Quest Birthday 

Girlz make guy cards 

The paper players - masculine 

Dragonfly dreams - masculine 

Crafty Calendar - for the boys 

Girlz and the art of letters - b for Balloon 

Krafty Chicks - Birthday 

Dream Valley challenge - four legged friends 

No Sew Journal with old book pages

I've been making a couple of these No Sew Journal using old book papers. I saw a video by Amity Bloom on You Tube how she had made them and thought they looked fun and so quick to do.  Here's one I'm sharing that is in it's early stages.

This is how the journal starts its life.  An old book page which is folded at the top half to create the 'V'.  This can also be either stuck down or left as an extra pocket. You can add as many pages as you like depending on how big you want your journal to be.  I tend to decorate each page before gluing them all together. 

I've then used the lovely new papers from Sam Poole which I downloaded from her Etsy site.  This was my first time attempting a download and it was surprisingly easy.  And I now have all these lovely images to play with.

I used some of Sam's old stamps which I had when I was on the DT for Creative Expressions.  It's a shame Sam doesn't do stamps any more so I'm glad I still have some. 

Of course I just had to add some of the eggs I'd recently stamped with Tim Holtz stamp set Bird Feather. I shared a lot of them on Instagram.

I'm adding this into the following:

Simon Says Stamp Monday - things with wings 

Creative Crafters - AG 

Creative Inspiration 
Ellibelle's Garden Party - from the garden 

Dream Valley - all creatures 

We love 2 create - AG 

Love those pretty papers 

Addicted to Stamps and More - Christmas

We are back celebrating Christmas at ATSM and this time I have a mixed media tag for you made mainly with Tim Holtz products.  The tag itself is a Tim Holtz Die as is the bird as are the background leaves, bow and letters.  The word Joy is from a very old Tim Holtz stamp set.

I started by making a mixed media background with Distress Inks and stamps.  I cut the top layer of the bird out of some old book pages and used Distress Ink in Vintage Photo and Festive Berries for the bird.  The letters were coloured with Festive Berries and Peeled Paint with a touch of Forest Moss.  I used a white gel pen to add some faux stitching around the edge of the tag.

I'm adding this into the following

Krafty Chicks Challenge - Christmas 

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday- use Dies 

Simon Says Stamp Monday - things with wings 

Neglected Stuff - the dies and stamps 

ADDICTED TO STAMPS AND MORE #516 - MAKE YOUR MARK

Time for another Make Your Mark challenge at ATSM where you can use pencils, marker pens, inks, paints to make your mark on your project.

I have had this stamp a while and never used it - its an old Aallandcreate one by Bipasha BK and I thought it deserved an inking.  I used Prismacolours for the colouring. I kept it simple with just the stamps and some Saltwater Taffy Distress Oxide ink around the edges of the paper. 

I'm adding this into the following:

Retro Rubber - soft colours 

Art Nudge - the colours of the cup cakes 

Neglected Stuff - this old stamp 

Avenue 16 - flowers 

We love 2 Create - AG 

Polkadoodles - AG 

Triple B - blooms 

INSPIRATION STATION #85

We are back with another inspirational photo for you from Inspiration Station.  How will you be inspired by this?  I was inspired by the colours of the red and blue and also the idea that these people have finished their studies and are off out into the world.  I know this happens in May in the US but doesn't really happen in the UK until July which is when our schools and universities finish for the summer. 

I chose to create a tag using one of Tim Holtz die cuts to create the tag which gives a nice big tag to work on.  I started off by painting red and blue stripes with a paint brush with some Tim Holtz paint direct to the tag. I also added some strips of washi tape in red and white.  I then added some extra stamping from Bipasha BK for Aallandcreate - I liked the words which I thought really fit the theme.  

I then had a look through my Tim Holtz paper dolls and found these three ladies who looked as though they were just about to embark on something exciting and I found the perfect sentiment from Tim's quote book.  I added some ephemera pieces too which fit the theme. I added some cheesecloth behind the image to add some extra texture and I hand drew a stitch line around the edge of the tape as I really can't sew! 

I'm adding this into the following:

Simon Says Stamp Monday - Feminine 

Crafty Gals Corner - AG 

The paper players - feminine 

Tag Along 

LOVE TO CRAFT - #92

Here we are ready for another challenge at Love to Craft.  I'm sharing another tag from my tag book which I am currently working on with the theme of butterflies.  It has all the elements which I love to play with as a big Mixed Media fan.  You will see other examples of my book on my blog as I share some of them for other challenge groups I'm part of.

This one has used the Paper Artsy paint again in Snowflake and Seaglass.   I then added extra stamping by Alison Bomber and Creative Expressions. I have a lovely old set by CE which has signatures on it and I've used one of them here as part of the ephemera.  I cut out the lovely butterfly which is part of a free set by Shawn Petite and added it to some ephemera.  I stamped some linen and added it to the bottom of the tag.  The little tag sentiment is by Bipasha BK for Aallandcreate.

CREATIVE ARTISTE MIXED MEDIA #126

Welcome back to another challenge at Creative Artiste Mixed Media challenge where we love to see at least 3 different mediums on your projects.  

I've created a canvas this week as it's been a while since I did one.  I just really wanted to have a little play and I love how this turned out.

My starting point was some lovely rice paper with the image of the garden gate on it by Studio Light.  I loved the idea of going through that gate and exploring.  I created my background with some new paints I've recently bought from Paper Artsy and they are fast becoming my favourites to use.  I only used a few colours here as I only have 3 so far - I used Steel Grey and Seaglass. I added some texture paste with a stencil and then did some stamping and stencilling using products by Alison Bomber and Tracy Evans. 

I added some extra texture and interest by using some scraps of book pages and ephemera for the butterfly which is one of Tim Holtz's Ideaology butterflies.  I fixed it to some netting. I then found these two Tim Holtz paper dolls and they just reminded me of my grandchildren who are 7 and 3 and just love being out doors exploring so the words I found from Tim's quote books were just perfect.  

I created the circles with the top of the paint pot of Snowflake also by Paper Artsy.  I love how this turned out and it has pride of place on my wall.  

MOVING ALONG WITH THE TIMES #189 - ONE OR MORE BUTTERFLIES

Welcome back to another challenge at Moving Along With the Times and we are on butterflies this month. I'm back in my usual happy place of mixed media for this one.

I am currently working on a large tag book on the theme of butterflies so thought I would share one of my tags.  

It has background stamping with stamps by Alison Bomber and Tracy Evans.  I've added some stamped linen and attached a Tim Holtz Ideaology Butterfly to the material.  There is extra stamping from Creative Expressions set Butterfly Walk by Sam Poole.  I cut out the words No Regret for the top tag from an old dictionary.  

PEARLY SPARKLES #119 - ONE OR MORE BUTTERFLIES

Welcome back to another challenge at Pearly Sparkles where we would like to see one or more butterflies on your projects.

This is a slightly different style to my normal grungy mixed media.  I used a mask by Lavinia Stamps for the circles and edged around it in Distress Oxide Tumbled Glass.  I added some stencilling with the same colour.  The left me with the white inside circle and I used an old stamp by Tracy Evans for Aallandcreate with the lovely butterflies on it.  I added a circle in the middle and cut out a butterfly die cut out of the same backing paper I had used for layering.  I used Versafine Clair Avocado and Verdant for the stamping.